I read the books, and genuinely cried when Regis appeared out of nowhere. He was such an endearing and fun character in the books, which made his death feels very sad. Meeting him again in the expansion really feels like meeting old friend, and the game conveyed that perfectly
@@bishop6881 I felt so happy for Geralt in that moment, strygga castle was such a gut punch of a chapter for me seeing someone he cared a lot for come back was really good storytelling in my opinion
i was reading the in-game book, "an evening with a vampire" where i first heard of regis. i wanted to search beauclair for him once i reached the DLC but he came to me
the part about Dettlaff acting emotional and out of character isn't actually true, he was always very emotional, Regis confirms that vampires feel a lot more intensely than humans do with all of their emotions and Dettlaff has always been an overly emotional being even for a vampire, so I feel it's very reasonable to think someone as smart and manipulative as Syanna can take advantage of that, As for the scene with both of them, you're not taking Dettlaff's emotional state into account, he thought he was hurt before and took action but now that he knows the actual truth he's hurting on a whole other level, much like a human that does something harsh without thinking at the moment, Except Dettlaff does that even more intensely cuz he's way more emotional and emotionally vulnerable than any human, so it would make sense that he wants to make everyone hurt, not to mention killing Syanna doesn't really do much to her, she already knew the risk and accepted that.
Dettlaff is a good boy just naive and not aware of the humans lies and hate and their petty intrigues - humans can be alwful , malicious , filth minded with wrong intentions and i can see that every day and believe me sometimes I really prefer to be far away from them to shut myself out , to never look back and just relax after getting far away from all the noise and stupidity. so,... if i can feel that imagine what a vampire from the witcher universe can feel ! so i can't judge Dettlaff . and i don't think he is the real monster in that story.
I’m sorry, but when your a thousand year old higher being and with a plethora of life experience it just seems extremely childishly stupid to go “well, let’s do a genocide” because your girlfriend dumped you. I know that vamps are extremely emotional, but shouldn’t someone be able to curb their emotion as age gets on, we as short lived humans don’t have this problem, I think given a few hundred years at MOST this shouldn’t be a applicable excuse.
@@731freeman maybe a thosand year old human does that, you're forgetting this is a vampire, an entirely different being with an entirely different existence and emotional process. just because they look like humans doesn't mean they behave like one. even a human with a chemical imbalance in their brain acts very differently than our conception normal. now imagine a different species with different understandings of existence(being immortal and all)
@@731freeman also, you're saying a higher being. you might believe a higher being behaves better or more mature than a human or isn't petty like a human! but that's just your conception(as a human) of what a higher being should be! the fact is, it's the "Higher being" that decides what it's like to be a higher being. we are as humans, always concern with the consequences of our actions because of our mortality, we live short lives so it's very precious to us. our actions might shorten this our lives or others and generally we don't want that(death, imprisonment, permanent injury and so on) but something like higher vampires don't really have that kind of concerns, they will never die and get hurt or have their lives shortened. so instead of thinking about it, they have the option to just act without thinking.
That magnificent little final moment of the end cutscene with Regis about deserving a rest, where Geralt looks right at the player and smiles,... after hundreds of hours with this character,... that almost makes my eyes leak (certainly lump in throat territory). Bravo to CDPR for giving us that farewell (I'm gonna 4k play that and screenshot it for a background)
Another thing that makes Blood and Wine such a wonderful sendoff is that it comes full circle, referencing Witcher 1 in ways that have been entirely ignored otherwise. For example, nearly all of the enemies in this DLC, such as Barghests, Bruxa, Garkains, Fleders, Kikimores, Archespores, Echinops', etc were originally seen in Witcher 1, and haven't been seen since. Also, The Lady of the Lake is back and offers Geralt Aerondight, arguably the best endgame silver sword just like in Witcher 1. The Aerondight quest is especially neat because it ties into Toussaint's "chivalry" lore so well: to get the sword, you need to "embody the five virtues", which can be done by making certain choices during other quests present in the DLC. This is such a cool touch that I'm surprised you didn't mention it in the video.
I wish he talked more about the details in the world. Like people working in the morning and party hard at night etc. Also when he talked about the setting's distance from the original game, he could mention the people not believing the poverty in Velen when you vşisit the tavern where Gwent tournament takes place in. Also I wonder if he went to prison because apparently you can get her killed somehow, but didnt know that while playing lol.
I'm just happy Geralt and Yennefer finally get to retire in peace, in a stunningly beautiful land. That, after having lived hard lives for decades, saved the world, and somehow managed to raise a daughter who will soon be Empress of Nilfgaard... I couldn't be happier for them. They deserve it.
It was explaned why deathlaff left syana when be discovered that she was the one manipulating him. He didnt want to make a rash decition because he was emotionel, he wanted to cool down before talking to her. Regis explanes that vampires are sorta kinda like animales that react extreamly when it comes to love
Deattlaff true nature as a high vampire (beast-like instincts and feelings when enraged) is what brings him to the decision of making that threat . He knows about it and act accordingly . When he finally found Syanna and figured out what happened he was about to kill her , but because of the fear of acting solely on instinct he wanted to wait at least a bit of time . The burning the city part was only there as to say "You will not run away at all costs" it wasn't a punishment for humans ( and honestly at that point , if syanna run away he would have turned in to a beast anyway ). Syanna herself killed the people who she thought betrayed her during her childhood , it's not like she would have accepted the destruction of the city only to save her life . I don't think this part of the story was too unreasonable .
This is how I took it as well, the expansion took a great care in showing how these "good" vampires battle with their nature, imagine you fall in love with a human only to find out it was a lie, but you are intelligent and knowing of your nature enough to take a step back as it were. That being said, I also do believe that to a degree Detlaff was hiding from human faults, in order to justify his suffering to keep them alive, seeing how even the one he loved is flawed and hurt him has brought up all the rage and hurt he had over a long period of time, put that together with his nature and i see why raizing a whole city would be on his mind, especially since he knows he can. They are not people, not human, Regis makes us forget that because he lived and interacted with humans for such a long time, but even he has his momentst and issues, Detlaff goes numb to it after Syana betrays him and goes all out to get it all out. I never saw it particularly as a bad writing, or fitting the characters around the story since Detlaff is made by CDPR. What did make me raise and eyebrow is how Syana made him fall in love with her in the first place, since to my mind she isnt that brilliant nor persuasive, so I do believe there is love between them, but still I would want to see more of how it happened to be convinced. And why Syana thought using a master vampire for her personal dirty work, lying to him no less, was a good idea. Imo her going into hiding and tricking Detlaff for no obvious reason was the biggest fault of the story.
I agree. That's how I saw it too. I never saw Detlaff as trying to destroy Beauclair out of revenge. Rather, he knows who is protecting Syanna. And that nobles will hide behind the blades of their soldiers and the common folk. Just as he sends a horse of lesser vampires rather than risk himself.
We can quite forget that this is second "princess" curse of the black sun (which on books were described as unsolved neurological mutation, some kind of magical brain tumor) which is actually true and dangerous thing, basically making her both unnaturally charming and sociopathic. First princess was remake of snow white tale, where our lady, after failed assassination attempt befriended with pack of dwarves and started mercilessly raiding neighbouring lands. Earning nickname 'dzieżba' for impaling unlucky population. (For anyone interested, slaying 7 dwarves + cute princess on main city square gave Geralt title of Butcher from Blaviken)
I mean Regis explains detlaffs personality pretty damn thoroughly if you missed it that’s kind of your fault. He was upset about killing de la coix because they became friends. I mean Regis tells you that detlaff felt strong emotions ever someone for just giving him an apple and asking nothing in return. Everything he does makes absolute sense from what Regis tells you about him..
"Overly emotional schoolboy. It's dumb." That's literally his character. He doesn't process emotions like mature humans. Even Regis mentions that Dettlaff (and vampires in general) feels everything more strongly than humans
Doesn't make it any more compelling though. You understand that when 'higher vampires feel everything 1000 times more powerfull than humans' for a human viewer looks like a 16 year old twilight schoolboy on a powertrip, something wasn't really done right. In general it's dangerous to base the main characteristic on the big antagonist on something that is out of human grasp. The fact that vampires feel everything so much stronger than humans is hard to picture or to relate too, and something that a non litterature based mediumm (that doesn't have access to internal viewpoints to properly describe those feelings) has a hard time translating. And it ends up very abstract, so much so that the game does a very poor job at picturing it.
@@MrVolke13 I disagree. I totally bought his character and it seemed most players did as well. Feeling something more intensely, at least to me, sounds exactly like an immature twilight schoolboy on a powertrip, and so his portrayal seemed entirely plausible. The other option was to make him parallel some real-life stalker examples, but for an extremely powerful vampire, stalking and playing tricks from a distance seems too meek. I mean, powertrips and megalomania is generally what intense feelings lead to, do they not? I don't see why the concept is hard for humans to picture or relate to.
@@MrVolke13 What makes something compelling is entirely subjective. It's the same as saying "It's not fun" or "It's not interesting" as argument points. It can't be measured objectively.
I'm so glad I got recommended your channel. Fantastic critique. It's rare to find someone who can legitimately criticize something even if they enjoy it.
anyone can give an opinion many people don't agree with what he said here and there are other videos where he says some really dumb stuff also. still interesting to listen but fantastic and rare not really
@@DarknessFlameMedia His video on cyberpunk when he tried to argue that cyberpunk had more rpg elements than witcher 3 because you can carry different types of guns was REALLY dumb. If that's the case then I guess Call of Duty is an RPG 🙄
Try Bloodborne or darks souls 1 or 3. Witcher was my favorite Till I tried Bloodborne and then souls. I probably have 1000 hours in Bloodborne alone and then 1000 across ds1,2,3. They don’t have anywhere near the story telling Witcher has, but they play so well that it’s hard to play Witcher 3 anymore (unfortunately). Just a recommendation if you haven’t tried, might find your new favorite game.
@@derekcampbell4209 well, Bloodborne and Souls games definitely have better combat and bosses, but it doesn't have that depth Witcher 3 has, The size of Witcher 3 crushes almost any title, how the quests are written is phenomenal, music, exploration, World, setting, characters-they are all perfect, and none of games tops Witcher 3 mostly because of these.
I never understood why choosing to "reunite" the sisters at the finale was the "good" ending. Syanna was responsable for many atrocious deeds and she should be punished.
True, although if you don't "reunite" them they both die, so that's her list completed and she basically got what she wanted. The only ways you can have Syanna die but not Anna Henrietta you have to either leave Syanna trapped in the dream world, or not bother getting the ribbon if you do go there.
Well, she Did some bad shit, for sure, but how she was treated when she was a kid because that she was diffrent, and how she got beaten by Royal knights getting thrown into forest without food isn't great either. Everyone deserves second chance in my opinion
This last scene still gives me the chills in the best way possible. Thank you for an awesome video capturing the soul of this last chapter of the Witcher videogame series.
The point about Blood and Wine not experimenting isn't exactly true. It would be if that was the first DLC for the game, but it's not. Hearts of Stone came out before, and was an excellent story-focused content which broke out of the standard formula, and - as you've pointed out yourself, in your HoS critique video) wouldn't fulfill the "need for more of the same", which BaW does. That alone is, from a certain perspective, an experiment on the developers' part - instead of repeating what they've done with the first DLC, they've explored reiterating what made the base game enjoyable in the first place, which greatly compliments the final destination of the DLC (which you also pointed out yourself) - being a send off. Should this DLC have been something totally new, different, experimenting and heavily deviating from the core of the Witcher saga, the send off wouldn't have been as powerful as it was when we were once again immersed in what we've grown to love.
Interesting point of view! You pointed out a few things I hadn't thought of while I was playing through it, such as Dettlaff's whole "gonna raze the city" deal and how silly it all seems looking back on it. I got so caught up in the drama that the flaws in the narrative didn't stick out much- good catch! Very fair review and good critique.
I don't think it's as silly as he makes it. Regis repeatedly says why Detlaff is acting that way. Vampires are emotional creatures. He suppresses his rage in their 1st meeting. But he's made a threat. He can't back out of it. It didn't feel anymore contrived than the opening of HoS.
I think its justifiable if you look deeply into the conversations, but the main story that most people see doesn’t adequately show how emotional detlaff is being
"the fact that he's been fooled and manipulated so easily by Sianna is hard to believe. He's an ancient vampire..." I think this was intentional, to show the power of love.
The massive amount of top-tier content supplied by this DLC is remarkable. It's full of new assets, new engrossing stories, a lot of well-written new characters, and offers so many new things to experience both in terms of quests and exploration. Blood and Wine is so ambitious and generous, that it's on par with what many other game developers would release as its own stand-alone game at full price. It puts most other DLC's ever released to shame.
@RKProductions Yeah, but they stated that it won't be centered around Geralt or Ciri, although they could make appearances. B&W is most likely the last time we will get to really experience Geralt as an individual.
Blood and Wine is like Citadel from ME 3, love letter to the fans who stuck with the games the whole way :) Rewatching this video I still disagree with your take on the main story but still, its so gratifying to hear put the many good things about this dlc into words :)
I know is been 3 years since the video came out, but there is a thing I need to point out and it's abour Roach. I agree that the quest where we hear her talk it's mostly fan service but I have to disagree about Geralt not caring for his horses. In the books Geralt talks about how he always name his horses Roach because he "doesn't care for them" and give them the same name to better remember them but the point of this is that Geralt doesn't really feels like this. Geralt cares a lot about them, as point out by Milva when she said that he acts like he doesn't care and want to get rid of her but in reallity he never does it. He wants to feel like he doesn't care so he invents excuses but the reason of giving them the same name all the time is to confort himself, so that he can feel he never left them, that she is always with him. Geralt is a very emotional character but he tries to not show that, but we can see that he betrays that in his actions, and we can see that in the way he treats Roach. Despite liking the video and your analisis, I think that you obviate some aspects of the characters in the whole Witcher 3 analisis and that hurts your critics on the story itselft (In the main game as in the expansions), but that is my opinion. I think that you make great arguments on some of the gameplay aspects though.
Geralt DESERVED a happy ending, and so, that is exactly what he got, a peaceful semi-retirement alongside Yennefer, their adopted daughter Ciri stopping by now and again, inside of a country that treats them with deserved respect, and owning a vineyard.
I have played this game through to the end 3 times put in over 700 hours into it and I have never noticed Geralt look into the camera at the end until now!!! What an ending for the game and this critique!! Hats off to you
I tend to disagree on the Detlaff front. If you paid any attention to what Regis said during all these quests then you'd know Vampires are extremely emotional beings who love deeply and feel emotions much more intensely almost in an animalistic way. In addition to that its mentioned that Detlaff is a particularly emotional vampire. So to say his reaction to finding out Syanna was the blackmailer is out of character is incorrect. Yes he loves deeply and cares for others but that is a double edged sword. He also reacts very violently when he feels pain, loss or betrayal. This is why he cut off his own hand cause the man he had to kill became a very good friend to him. He also didn't question Syanna right then and there as they were surrounded by Ducal guardsmen and like others have stated he didn't want to act too rashly to what she said. He threatens Beauclair because that's his whole character. He becomes almost murderous when someone steals his spot or cuts a line so his reaction makes sense in that way. I do however agree that the waiting the whole three days and Syanna's lack of regret or empathy was an issue. It kind of made me conflicted about saving her my second playthrough and I just wanted to let Detlaff kill her. Its also absurd to believe Anna forgives her sister just like that and every victim just has to be satisfied.
Nearly every time something happened in this dlc, I thought "wow this is cool but I wish they tried exploring it more". I couldn't agree more with this video.
Thw main game is actually ciri's story, hearts of stone is actually olgierd's story, and blood and wine is actually regis's story. Geralt is allways a side character in evreyone else story.
Not sure if I agree with that, but I do enjoy the thought that Geralt is character like Mad Max or The Man With No Name. It actually fits incredibly well. I'd love a game or film or whatever in this universe about a Witcher, adapting the style of a Spaghetti Western or something along those lines.
The only major problem I have with this is the complaint on difficulty from level scaling. You can get grandmaster witcher gear almost immediately after starting the expansion which trivializes 99% of the fights with anything that isnt 10 levels over yours.
I take issue with your portrayal of Dettlaff’s motivation. He is not just upset about a bad breakup. He was manipulated into killing people by the very person he was trying to save. But I do agree that his decision to torch the city is a total non-sequitur.
So Dettlaffs motivation for trying to kill an entire city's population is that he's angry he was manipulated into killing people by syanna. He's upset about bring tricked to kill people so he tries to kill more people. I was exaggerating Dettlaff's response a little bit, but there's no way to justify it without there being big problems with how he acts.
@@NeverKnowsBest I believe most Higher Vampires see humans as inferior forms of life. Dettlaff is being described by Regis as a more primitive/instinctive being that could never handle the more complicated sides of human society. He probably started mingling with them only after he fell in love with Syanna, probably because he thought they must have good qualities, like the woman he fell in love with. When he learned that Syanna was using him the whole time, I think he came to agree with the "standard" opinion the Vampire race reserves for humans: that they are unworthy, petty, dishonest, manipulative insects. As for destroying Beauclair, If my memory serves me, Syanna wanted to take the throne from her sister. Dettlaff would make sure that she would become the duchess of dust and ruins. When he learned he was being used as a boogeyman, he decided to become a boogeyman in truth.
+ForFingon " I think he came to agree with the "standard" opinion the Vampire race reserves for humans" you think this is how it was but the game does not show this and even though this would be detrimental for his character development they don't bother to even write a single throwaway line for this? unlikely and then why does he not just kill her if he is going to kill her later anyway and why would he attack the city even if he thinks of humans as trash now there is not really a need to fight the city and Geralt who is kinda going to fuck him up and stuff "Syanna wanted to take the throne from her sister. Dettlaff would make sure that she would become the Duchess of dust and ruins." How would he know this.....and also he kinda kills her or at least tries so mmmmmh.....was she going to be the dead dutches of the burned city?
@ForFingon "He probably started mingling with them only after he fell in love with Syanna" There's no evidence for this and he's had 1,500 years of living in a world with humans. He must have had some contact with them as he meets Syanna in a human shop when selling something silver, and i find it hard to believe that in such a long time span he can't have had experience with humans. But if that was the case the game needed to explain it better. Instead we get a very mixed message. We're told Dettlaff is ancient, intelligent and not just someone who would kill without good reason. Then later in the game we're shown Dettlaff is naive and "primitive" by his response to Syanna's betrayal (and someone who would kill a huge number of innocents without a good reason). I think your explanation for Dettlaff is the best explanation you can have for his response and reasoning, but it still feels inconsistent and like the game fails to tell its story correctly. "I think he came to agree with the "standard" opinion the Vampire race reserves for humans: that they are unworthy, petty, dishonest, manipulative insects." But that's not the standard view of vampires (at least judging from whats said by regis and by the 3 books in tesham mutna). Vampires see humans as lesser in a similar way to how humans see animals. They don't have any hate for them, they just see them as less developed and as a food/commodity source, and in fact they seem to also show curiosity and sometimes sympathy for humans. If the standard view of vampires was humans should be exterminated then the world of the witcher would be a very different place. "If my memory serves me, Syanna wanted to take the throne from her sister" Again, there's no evidence for this. The game only shows her as wanting to kill annarietta for revenge. And she's happy to trade her life for a chance to kill annarietta in the bad ending, which supports the idea she only cares for revenge and not personal gain.
@@NeverKnowsBest I have only played Blood and Wine once, back when it was released so I probably filled the gaps on my own. Maybe I remember wrong but that is the impression I got: Dettlaff was oblivious of the more complicate functions of human/social behavior. For example three centuries before the game, he only killed a fiend which had previously murdered 200 humans, after he learned that said fiend had killed a boy who offered the monster an apple, expecting nothing in return. In my head canon, Detlaff gives 3 days to Syanna to see if she will surrender her life for the good of her people, or not.
One of my best friends killed his ex-fiancee, her new lover, her mother and himself after the break-up. It's not schoolboy-emotion, it's having a too romanticist view of love(because that's what Toussaint is, a parody of silly idealist views), how it can make a good, rational person do horrible things and how dangerous unvented anger can be. A similar thing goes for Syanna.
That sounds more like viewing love as ownership. I don't see that as having to do with romantig love, but the view that other people only have a right to live if they do what you want them to, if they are of worth to you. My impression is that a lot of murders and a lot of racism, sexism, religious wars have to do with that. On the other hand overly rational beliefs can lead you to the idea of 'the end justifies the means' which will be a comfort to everyone who gets to be the victim of the way to the end. I don't think there's a black and white decision that will work for every human the same way with regard to love or reason. Personally I think the most simplified measuring stick that makes sense to me is "Do unto others as you want them to do unto you" - if you are in a position of being able to do, in the first place.
@@m.di.c. "That sounds more like viewing love as ownership." That's what a monogamic (un)spoken contract implies, yes. "You're mine, I'm yours." "I don't see that as having to do with romantig love, but the view that other people only have a right to live if they do what you want them to, if they are of worth to you. " I don't see that at all. I see it as perceived betrayal and a violent response to said betrayal. Imagine someone claiming to have your back, only to fire the first bullet into it when stuff hits the fan. You're not going to just let him go either.
@@malchir4036 unspoken contract that the new lover, and her mother also belong to him so he can kill them? I don't think I'll convince you, and you certainly won't convince me.
@@m.di.c. That's not what I said. You give a moral objection when I'm not making a moral argument. Look at animals in monogamic relationships. Female reproductive rights are traded for support and protection by the males. When the contract is broken, it can turn irrational and violent.
I personally prefer the ending where syanna is killed by detlaff and I find out that syanna planned on killing her sister because it kind of justifies making the correct decision as she caused all the death and destruction in the story so she is ultimately to blame and deserves to die
Thank you! I really enjoy listening to a games soundtrack and trying to find a good selection of music that both shows off the soundtrack a bit and also feels like it fits with what i say in the video. Your comment is the first i've ever had about use of music, so it means a lot to me.
The problem with Syanna's story already being told is, in my opinion, the bane of most of Witcher games' stories. The story about looking for Ciri being chased by Wild Hunt has already been told. The story about Nilfgaard's invasion and horrors of war has already been told. The story about racism has already been told, and the story about witch hunt has been as well. I honestly wish they decided to make it something other than a sequel. I wish they made more stories like that of Gaunter o'Dimm, without the need to include the main characters and countless repetitions of what has already been in books. And about something previously seen in books being made less interesting... well, this plagues most of the stories in games as well, strangely. Like the whole Wild Hunt thing, or the White Frost.
I took the unifying theme of Blood and Wine to be the danger of letting the good that you see in someone blind you to that person's darker side. Both Regis and Anna Henrietta make this mistake, and both suffer for it. Of course, this interpretation may not work for the "good" ending, but I viewed the "bad" ending as obviously the "correct" one.
I think you miss the point of the good ending. Regis makes the mistake, but I think it's possible for you, the player, to make the opposite mistake with Syanna. I think most people do this.
I think you miss the point of the good ending. Regis makes the mistake, but I think it's possible for you, the player, to make the opposite mistake with Syanna. I think most people do this.
I think you miss the point of the good ending. Regis makes the mistake, but I think it's possible for you, the player, to make the opposite mistake with Syanna. I think most people do this.
I think you miss the point of the good ending. Regis makes the mistake, but I think it's possible for you, the player, to make the opposite mistake with Syanna. I think most people do this.
I think you miss the point of the good ending. Regis makes the mistake, but I think it's possible for you, the player, to make the opposite mistake with Syanna. I think most people do this.
Toussaint is quite a depiction of a more Mediterranean Burgundy; although Burgundy to its largest extent did include the Mediterranean. So it is not completely a fairytale region.
I know I’m a bit late to this but I don’t think the way Detlaff acts is out of character. Vampires in the Witcher are known to have a less than settler view on humanity, Regis and Detlaff being exceptions to that, from what we know about vampires from the Tusha Mutna quest it’s clear that most vampires see humans as little more than a bunch of inconsequential, lesser beings. Knowing that it’s not unreasonable to think that an emotional vampire like Detlaff would massacre a city. What’s the difference in to thousands of less squirrels or deer or any animal to a human. It’s just not something that most people get hung up over. So he’s acting in a fit of rage but I don’t think it goes outside the characterization as a vampire. He is intelligent so he probably knows that ruining Beuclair would be a longer and darker revenge than simply killing Sienna. It’s clear from her character that she really does at heart want to be back home, she just is really resentful of her treatment.
Why does Detlaff allow himself to be so easily manipulated by Syanna? Come on, the answer is obvious. The Syanna booty was just that damn good. Sure worked on me. I WAS able to see her as a sympathetic character and therefore I got the good ending. I don't know, all the 'problems' you see with the story aren't really problems in my view. I was able to understand everything and it all made sense in my head, the Detlaff character included. This certainly is not as good as Hearts Of Stone but that's just because HOS is a masterpiece. BAW is very good in its own right, it's just not as chilling and gripping a tale. But not because of the reasons you gave. It's not as chilling or gripping simply because of its nature. It's more grand and lighthearted despite some dark themes and it doesn't really work as a parable. But it's still brilliant, especially when you consider Orianna and the meta game in those scenes and the Night To Remember trailer. Absolutely fantastic stuff.
when I found out Syanna was the one that had her thumb over a ancient higher vampire using him like a puppet......I was like damn you a bad bitch ain't you lol I enjoyed her character. She deserved more screen time
I think you missed the fundamental point of this story. By expecting Dettlaff to act logically, believing Regis's understanding of his friend, you ended up interpreting his actions as poor story choices, when in fact they're anything but. The thing you must understand about Dettlaff is that he is a monster, as quick to rage as he is to devotion. You puzzled at his decision not to punish Syanna immediately, once all was revealed. But simply killing her would not have sated his fury. He wanted to punish the whole world. Of course, he felt remorse for killing a decent man, as abusers often do. But that doesn't stop them from proceeding to greater evils in retaliation for wounded pride. In looking for logic in Dettlaff's actions, you blinded yourself to the point the story was making, that he wasn't a logical man. He's a prideful creature, who, once wronged, felt justified in any act of evil in revenge that came to mind. Instead of dismissing this as out of character for a basically good man, ask yourself, was Dettlaff really a good man? This brings us to why Regis defends him so stubbornly. Obviously, Regis is a loyal friend, and grateful for Dettlaff saving his life. But it's important to remember about abusers that they groom allies as much as they groom victims. Dettlaff built not simply a bond of trust with Regis, but a profound obligation, creating a convenient, powerful ally that leapt to his defense when he began his violent rampage. In real life, the ordinary human monsters of the world do this all the time, surrounding themselves with defenders, to assure the world that they're good people despite having done bad things. So here's the interesting thing. Syanna groomed Dettlaff just as Dettlaff groomed Regis. That's not the only reflection the two share. Syanna 's arrogant disregard for the lives of the people of Beauclair is an extension of her noble birth. And though it's despicable, it is perfectly mirrored by Annarietta's disregard for the danger she puts her people in when she locks up Syanna instead of handing her over to Dettlaff. As aristocrats, Syanna and Annarietta share a similar sense of superiority as "higher" vampires Dettlaff and Regis, who think of humans as little more than pets or annoying mosquitoes. So ultimately, Dettlaff is really a reflection of Syanna 's dark side. And it's important to note that Annarietta behaves exactly the same when wronged, meting out harsh judgments for any betrayal. Even Regis seems all too willing to explain away Dettlaff's evil, even in the midst of his reign of terror. All share a disregard for the suffering of the ordinary citizens of Baueclair. Only Geralt and the knights make it their top priority. But despite this, what the story is really about is redemption. You say that redemption demands remorse. Yet all parties seemed to be waiting around for one another to take responsibility before any was willing to admit their own. It's a stalemate, and it's up to the player to break it. And therein lies the genius of the story. What you know, but many players may not, is that Blood and Wine was designed for Geralt to revisit one of the first Witcher tales, The Lesser Evil. In that tale, the Princess Renfri, also labeled with the curse of the black sun, was persecuted for decades by a sorcerer convinced she would bring about the end of the world. The mystery to the curse of the black sun is at the center of Witcher lore. Like the Law of Surprise, the Last Wish, elder blood, and many other instances where characters perceive the hand of destiny steering their actions, the Black Sun curse condemned Renfri to the life of a pariah. The question then is that, when she turns to evil, is it because of the curse, or because belief in it has turned everyone against her? Likewise, is Syanna evil because of the curse, or because she was treated like garbage all her life, before being exiled, robbed, beaten, and abused? In The Lesser Evil, Renfri was given a choice to be the better person and walking away from revenge, though doing so would not give her redress, nor protect her from the sorcerer who had persecuted her. Geralt could only offer her a chance to prove she wasn't the monster everyone said she was. But by then it was too late. Even if the curse was nonsense, she was so poisoned by years of abuse and persecution, she couldn't break from her path. She had essentially become the Punisher, unable to rise above the evil and be the better man, so to speak. So the mystery of the curse remains. In the lore of the Witcher, it's never clear whether destiny or free will and chance rules the world. This is why it was important that Syanna couldn't let go of her bitterness long enough to feel remorse. In a way, she was Renfri, trapped in the same bitterness. But this time, Geralt could choose. He could omit the news that she'd plotted to kill her sister, and give both women an opportunity to be forgiven. Regis is there, as full of condemnation for Syanna as he was of excuses for Dettlaff. But by now you should have worked out that Regis, far from being the voice of reason, is deeply biased. After all, what would be the point of hanging onto blame or resentment? Punishment would have done no one any good. The bad ending, in which the two sisters die together, may have been justice, but it left Toussaint bereft and unstable. To be sure, Annarietta was just as responsible for the suffering of Beauclair's citizens as Syanna , because in her royal arrogance, she refused to negotiate with Dettlaff. And the nobles Dettlaff murdered all had it coming because of what they'd done to Syanna. Dettlaff himself could have either forgiven Syanna , or killed her where she stood instead of waiting for her to give herself up willingly. His self-righteous wrath, far from being out of character, revealed him to be just as prone to callous cruelty as Syanna was toward him. If, like Regis, you think that Dettlaff could be forgiven for what he did, then you must also forgive Syanna for her relatively small part in simply being the catalyst for the vampire's rampage. By comparison, Syanna suffered far greater harm than Dettlaff ever had. Her original plan was focused solely on those who had harmed her. Dettlaff didn't care where his revenge landed. So who really is the greater monster? I submit to you that Regis plays the part of unreliable narrator, his friendship and charm allowing you to forget that, though he's very fond of you, he, like Dettlaff and all other vampires, believes human lives matter less than vampire feelings. He assures you over and over that Dettlaff is not evil. Yet at the end of the day, evil is as evil does. Ultimately, it seems to me this story's intent was to offer Geralt a do-over for The Lesser Evil, and by extension, offer us essentially the same choice Geralt once offered Renfri. Do we chose to forgive, or condemn? And regardless of what the recipient deserves, what does our choice say about us? That, sir, was the point.
You, good sir, are one of the main reasons why I enjoy such Witcher videos as much as I do. You can always be sure that someone will share their own different but also completely valid perspective, thank you for that. Personally, you had me with breaking the stalemate in taking responsibility, and with your character comparisons, especially the Renfri one. In retro perspective, I think I failed to see most of those deeper story aspects on my first and only (as of yet) playthrough of B&W and I’m glad I took the time to (rewatch this video once again) and scroll down the comment section Edit: Spelling ^^
That...is actually a really interesting take. I don't know if that was what the writers intended, but I think I like it better than my initial interpretation. I originally thought that Dettlaff's initial characterization was intended to make him a somewhat sympathetic antagonist, but according to your reading, it would seem that that was just his mask, helped by apologists like Regis, to hide what a monster he really was. In that case, the final fight with Regis and Dettlaff wouldn't be a tragic confrontation between old friends, but rather Regis finally recognizing Dettlaff for what he was. Even then, I think the execution was a little messy, though. In the ending in which Dettalff kills Syanna, and Geralt kills him, Geralt later asks Regis why he chose to stand against Dettlaff. Regis replies that rage had completely consumed Dettlaff. However, its unclear what, exactly, made Regis come to that realization. Was it Syanna's murder? Considering that Regis was still making excuses for Dettlaff even as he was in the process of murdering an entire city, I don't see why the murder of a woman whom Regis considers to be evil would make him think that Dettlaff had gone too far. Considering that that was essentially supposed to be the climax of Regis' arc, it kind of fell flat. As for Syanna, well I have read The Lesser Evil. In it, Geralt tries (and ultimately fails) to convince Renfri to give up on her revenge quest. Her response is one of my favourite lines in the short story: "And if I tell you, witcher, that I can neither forgive Stregobor nor renounce my revenge then I admit that he is right, is that it? I'd be proving that I am a monster cursed by the gods?" She then talks about a freeman who would beat and rape her, and how she later killed him in revenge. Despite Geralt's insistence that she be the better person and walk away, that line forced me to confront whether she would really be as bad as people say if she refused to forgive what had been done to her. In my opinion, no. With that in mind, when presented with the choice to suggest to Syanna that she try forgiving Annarietta, I decided against it, as it seemed pointless, and maybe even a little condescending. If all it would've taken for Syanna to give up on her revenge quest was someone suggesting that she give forgiveness a try, then you'd think that she'd have given up on it long ago. However, it appears that I was wrong, as that's the only way to get the "good" ending. It seems that game-Geralt, by virtue of being the Player Character, is far more persuasive than book-Geralt was. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
@@benl2140 Yeah, I think that's the nature of the game. It puts the story choices in your hands, even if it's not necessarily your story. Of course, the method of choosing dialog trees is a bit clumsy. I felt the same way you did, feeling as though it was condescending to just tell Syanna to renounce her anger now that her revenge (at least against Annarietta) ha failed. But then, what did she have to gain by hanging onto anger? Of course, you can't yet really say in a game what you'd say in real life, nor have a game react to nuance. All they could do was offer a few branching options. But I think the gist of it is that the choice Geralt once offered to Renfri, the game now offers the player. And like Renfri, the player has developed an emotional stake in the story, because it's a damned gripping story. It's designed to thrust you back and forth through emotions, and make the good ending dependent on your willingness to leave aside your own desire for revenge. And from what I can tell, many players were too invested in hating Syanna to see her side of it. Regis puts you on Dettlaff's side, and so you see Syanna through his eyes. That's why the game traps you in the fairytale world with Syanna, to get her side of the story. And though she's a pain in the ass, I found I completely understood why. It's not the Curse of the Black Sun that turned her evil. It was resentment for the way she was treated. And as with Renfri, she had a choice to leave it behind, to not be the puppet of fate, or other people's choices. To choose for herself. Of course, if I were Geralt, I'd have chopped Stregobor's head off and lived happily ever after with Renfri. She was pretty awesome.
@@rottensquid I'm not sure I'd agree that the player is offered the same choice as Renfri. Neither Dettlaff nor Syanna did anything to harm Geralt (or the player) personally, so it's not really a matter of revenge vs forgiveness. I think only the person/people harmed by someone's actions can decide whether to forgive that person. I think the player's choice is more a matter of what the player considers to be justice. Does justice mean each person getting what they "deserve" (and, if so, what do they deserve?), or does it mean trying to achieve the outcome that's best for everyone? Of course, if we suspend disbelief, it's really Syanna's decision (not Geralt's) to forgive or seek revenge that determines the ending. She just gets a little "help" from Geralt/the player.
@@benl2140 I mean, sure, you as the player aren't personally invested, nor is Geralt. Yet the outcome still relies entirely on you, in the same way the end of the main game isn't your triumph, but its outcome depends wholly on how supportive a father-figure you were. That's the subtle genius of the Witcher 3. It sneakily puts the choice in your hands, giving players the ending they asked for without even knowing it. Of course it's depicted as the choice of character. But I think the fact that it's ultimately in your hands has meaning beyond just being a game mechanic. It gets back to The Lesser Evil, and Geralt's refusal to get involved. At the end of the day, by not taking sides, he ended up supporting the greater evil. Stregobor planted the seeds of the Black Sun rumor from the day Renfri was born, and was fully responsible for shaping her life into what it was. Geralt knew that from the get-go. By not getting involved, one aids the oppressor, much like how witnessing a murder and saying nothing about it isn't a neutral act. In the game, Geralt sways the situation simply by getting involved, speaking to people, offering either judgement or compassion. He reframes the narrative. We like to think that we alone are responsible for our actions, but we're influenced by our communities, for good or ill. We're social creatures. Simply by seeing ourselves the way others see us, either through conformity or in defiance, who we are is affected. That's why I think it's poignant that Geralt can change the outcome of the situation simply though his framing of Syanna's actions. By simply being seen as someone capable of good, of forgiveness, instead of a monster only capable of evil, he plants the idea in her head that she might be more than the curse made her. Like Renfri, I think Syanna too had doubts about herself, believed that there was something to the curse. That's the whole point of the curse as a story mechanic. It suggests that if you frame someone as a monster their whole lives, they will become one. So simply by reframing Syanna as a person capable of and deserving forgiveness, Geralt can break the cycle.
I like the critique, but disagree on the part of Syanna. The point is you have to teach her she was being a contemptible person with a loathsome mentality. You're meant to sympathize to a degree, but she is not a good person. The writers did a decent job making her actions understandable, for what it's worth. Edit: I feel like the most obvious example of this is in the "bad" ending. Syanna is reviled. Geralt is given the option of putting a flower on her grave, or not. It's optional what you think of her.
Yep .... and now what do we have as a successor to this exceptional game? Now we have cyberpunk 2077 inferior on all points: - The music - The atmosphere - the writing in general - the complexity of the game in general Everything is inferior it's a shame for a studio that had set the bar so high
I disagree. I think Cyberpunk is pretty phenomenal when it comes to atmosphere, music, and writing. When it comes to complexity tho, I don't think it is even a competition. Cyberpunk is much more complex, when it comes to overall gameplay of the game. I don't think Cyberpunk is inferior on all points. Story felt much more personal and I liked the fact that instead of chasing after a girl you barely know as a character, you are chasing after your own life. Side characters are pretty interesting but that was true for Witcher 3 as well. Atmosphere wise, it is pretty good too. The gama has great cinematography and visual design and it uses everything in its power to immerse the player in what they are doing. Music is pretty good too. I don't how could someone come to the conclusion that Cyberpunk is inferior in every single way without rose tinted glasses on.
This game is the gold star as for doc it not only takes the bases fane and improves it but gives you singeing new, the new enemy’s offer a great challenge and better yet, more rewarding gameplay, the setting touissant is phenomenal with so much love poored in to, I’ve seen people say this was disappointing because it did t offer HoS level of story yet then it’s not for you, this was made to give you what you already loved, like side quest, cool locations, interesting enemy’s, and great lore hidden in the world, and the story is still really good, even if it ain’t as good as wild hunt or HoS
For me this was the piece of gaming that truly cemented Witcher 3 and CDPR as one of the greats. Sure, HoS had the more focused better writing but BaW had this aura and beauty that I've not seen in a long time in a video game. It honestly felt like a well deserved holiday (as you pointed out) after hundreds of hours of ordeals that you take Geralt through. It's just amazing that a place like this can exist in the same world as Velen for example and for the record yes, I absolutely explored every nook and cranny of Beauclair. Great work with the videos you're making, pretty much all of the videos you made are in my watchlist now xD, really good stuff!
A brilliant critique. Love's blind but a higher vampire's supposed to be smart even if he's prone to emotions. I feel B&W is more about true friendship than vengeance. The 3 day time jump is just stupid. The surface shines but B&W 's just as shallow as the main game. Could've been so much better.
Very deep review. I loved it. Yet I hardly see the Heart of stone expansion as better. Even thos this one has one or two plot holes the amount of work here is way greater. To me, and to a lot of people, this expansion is, overall, the best in the whole gaming history. Finally fan service is not bad. At least in this expansion we have quest and stories around it (whereas in game like skyrim they will just hide an item on the map)
I think it makes complete sense to see blood and wine as the better expansion. Its a little unfair to compare it to hearts of stone when it was twice the price, and (i assume), more then twice the development cost/time. Blood and wine was a true expansion, and for anyone who just wants more of the witcher 3, then blood and wine is going to deliver on that desire way more than the smaller heart of stone. And blood and wine was truly great in its own way, i just think hearts of stone had the better written story. Also i agree that fan service isn't bad. There's nothing wrong with giving fans what they want. In my eyes blood and wine is a love letter to witcher fans, and that approach contributes to the good qualities about blood and wine but may have also been a factor in the few shortcomings it has. Anyway thanks for the comment here and on the pathfinder video. I'm glad you enjoyed the videos.
what I learned from the strory is don't medlle with people in power. the city got atacked because duchess was too selfish to give her wicked sister I went to jail but I settled down with yen at the end and scene was just too cute so I am happy and think bad ending is the good ending
I did that metamorphosis bear build with the boosted toxicity talent so I could run 3 decoctions baseline (ekhidna, troll, ancient leshen), and got 5 more in combat (all damage), it was insane. yrden great for proc'ing status effects in that build
Your points are valid in regards of the writing loop for Dettlaff but also overly harsh. You also completely missed the point about SYANNA DEVELOPMENT. Dettlaff story and drive is about will, not entirely on right and wrong. His apprehension and passion is that he does not will the actions he is taking and this repulsed him to this level of passion. The threat on the city, however, is 'His will', his conclusion for being tricked. He doesn't share the same level of empathy for the people as a human, after all he believes himself above them (refer to the elder vampire choice when our protagonist has to persuade a Vampire lord to care for human plight). So you fail because you apply your level of empathy narrative to a creature that is more complicated. Your Syanna analysis is the failing of those who do not truly understand the writers intention. From all intentions and purposes when she is discovered she is GUILTY to all who see the story and most would already have drawn conclusion of 'fck her!'. However, for a true RPGist there is the curiosity of 'why did she do it', so the writers challenges you to delve in and find out why she is how she is. At this point you can learn as little or as much as you want. If you go all the way you are rewarded by her change in personality and a possibility of redemption with her sister. It s writing genius and a subjective critique as yourselves should have seen this.
🔥🔥🔥 It is also redemption for Geralt being able to 'save' a princess cursed by the black sun. Or not if Syanna and Anna die together. Then it is a poetic tragedy and still in theme with the world of the Witcher. I still can't decide which I like more.
Detlaff is a few centuries old, not thousands of years. And he is very naive and emotionally unstable. But attacking the city just to talk to Syanna is still stupid thing to do.
When I first played B&W I had to show it to all the people from the discord comunity I was a part of, showing them everything that orlais should have been, from Dragon age. It is PERFECT in every way, also reminded me so much of the south of France, Nice Vence area, so beautiful.
That's what I was thinking. This was everything Orlais and their capital city should have been. The way Lieliana described it in Origins sounded glorious. Instead we got one area that was bland with bald npcs everywhere lol
I'm a bit confused, isn't the story of blood and wine the same as before - a debate about what makes a monster? Syanna is beautiful but acts like a monster. The spotted wight looks like a monster but doesn't have the nature of one. Maybe Syanna is only a monster because she was treated like one and dettlaff isn't really any worse than a human with a temper.
5:55 This! Balance both is and is not important in a single player game. Making sure the gameplay is fair matters far less than making sure the gameplay is fun. In a single player game you don’t have to make sure players are able to compete with each other fairly or that members of a party feel that they can contribute equally. There is just one player and the gameplay should be tailored for their enjoyment.
I absolutely love the Witcher 3 it's probably my favorite game .That being said I had the exact same feelings and response you did towards Detlaffs decision and the direction of the game after he has syanna right there. Every single thing you said after that I completely agree with and it was exactly my feelings and response . There was no best ending for me in blood and wine atleast what I personally wanted to happen and that left me with a really despondent feeling . Ran across your channel a few days ago with the dragon age video recommended to me I've only watched a couple other after that one so far but I've really loved your videos thanks for all the work you have put into atleast the ones I've seen I'm sure the same effort and passion will be in every other one I'll watch I plan on watching all of them the rest of this week it's been a pleasure . Thanks again
I mean Regis explains detlaffs personality pretty damn thoroughly if you missed it that’s kind of your fault. He was upset about killing de la coix because they became friends. I mean Regis tells you that detlaff felt strong emotions ever someone for just giving him an apple and asking nothing in return. Everything he does makes absolute sense from what Regis tells you about him.
Damn from 60 subs straight to 1k you really deserve it tho and as I see it given the quality of your content this channel will go big fast anyway congratulations on 1k subs! As to the review itself, I can't add anything had the same issues (that spoon quest was my favourite quest from the dlc) I also did not do much besides a few side quests and the main quest so I probably missed a lot so I am going to replay it maybe sometimes in the feature when the gaming industry calms down with throwing out so many good games in rapid-fire mode. I was planning to comment on your Pathfinder: Kingmaker video but first I wanted to play through the game and it turned out to be a bit longer than I expected but I probably will be through by the end of next week. Given how many patches they have been throwing out for it the game will be probably quite different by then compared to when I started playing it but it really needs some hard patching.
Thanks Pedda. I got lucky really. The Kingmaker devs didn't send out review copies so there wasn't any early reviews, and then as the video got more views from youtube searches it started being promoted by youtube's algorithim which made the views shoot up. Its great to see my sub number increase so much though. I think growth will slow down now but i'll keep trying to make good content and who knows. And I think blood and wine is well worth replaying, there's a lot of fun side quests and Toussaint is just a great region. As for pathfinder kingmaker, i still haven't finished it either. The game is well over 100 hours even without the bugs that could potentially stop your progress that people say get worse the further you get. So i'm gonna take my time with the game and maybe make one or two other videos in the mean time.
Oh yeah, I had only noticed the view count on your P:K video after commenting here the YT algorithm gods were shining upon you but either way the more exposure you get the faster it should go so good luck. Well since I turned the strategy part on P:K on automatic and started ignoring it due to a bug that basically fucked all the stats of my kingdom (too bad I really liked it) I have been progressing a lot faster, will still probably take a 65-80h in total. Your last sentence made it seem like you are planning to make a full review on P:K is that right? I would love it at least. Anyway have a nice day.
I just interpreted the Detlaff-Syanna-Regis thing like this: - Regis is NOT very intelligent, though the game tries to tell you he is. He's sentimental, forgiving and idealistic. He keeps on pushing Geralt towards sparing/rescuing Detlaff, because he thinks he's been scammed. And he has, true, but Regis can't see that his friend is out of control, has already murdered many and the bodies will keep piling up - if not now, then later. - Detlaff might be wise and smart, but it's irrelevant because he has no self control. He is acting extremely emotionally and impulsively towards everything. Find a girl? Cling to love as hard as you can. Girl in trouble? Do whatever it takes. Kill an innocent human? Grieve and hack off arm. Find out scam? Fly off the handle with rage. I figure the reason he left when he had Syanna in his hands was he was either trying to gather some control, or because he wanted to inflict guilt and/or terror on Syanna and the others. Bottom line: The story tells you out loud that these guys are wise and/or smart, but the actual moral is that immortality doesn't actually make you wise.
I never felt sympathy towards Detlaff - he was obviously an out of control murderer to me - but I did for Regis. He was a naive moron, but he did at least try to reach for good. And he ended up having to kill his friend for it, because he didn't understand he needed to be stopped until it was too late.
I got the best ending. Killed Dettlaff and the duchess and her sister killing each other. Such a great DLC full of characters that you want dead. Toussaint just felt like putting the World of Darkness Vampire setting into Bretonnia from Warhammer Fantasy.
i just hated the dlc.. i was overwhelmed by quests right away as in every area, but by now i learned that doing side quests and questionmarks is dangerous as i might accidentally skip something.. so i just did the story in blood and wine and left, didnt even explore the eastern side of toussaint
Ain't Roach a type of fish? You say "hence the name roach" - maybe you meant the fish is insignificant, because the horses certainly aren't named after cockroaches.
@@NeverKnowsBest Yeah, I got that part - I was referring specifically to the preceding portion on its own. I felt it unclear despite the addition of the secondary meaning in Polish - it felt like it were structured in two different thoughts.
Well the fact that Geralt names all his horses the same thing suggests they are interchangeable and that he doesn't care that much about them individually. I don't think the books outright say that but I think its implied that Geralt somewhat deliberately tries not to get very attached to them, which I always assumed was because he goes through lots of horses as a result of living a long time and doing a dangerous job.
Hey, I just recently discovered your channel, and I'm currently in kind of a hurry, but I hope to one day engage properly on the subject with someone who seems interested enough as well :) Anyway, a VERY tl;dr version is that my view is that Blood and Wine is very much thematically consistent with - of all things - Hearts of Stone. Both, when you boil it down to it, come down to mental illness and how we approach and/or treat it in regards to personal responsibility. Detlaff basically shows what would happen if a creature with the power of an in-setting vampire would get an extreme form of Borderline Personality Disorder + Bipolar and Narcissistic tendencies (very similar to Olgierd in that regard). As I said, I'd REALLY love to write more on the subject but I'm in quite a rush currently so I hope that there's a Twitter or Discord or some other way to reach you if you're interested in some narrative theorycraft banter :)
A problem with the Syanna critiques: yes she doesn't do anything to deserve redemption... but you don't have to give it to her, so it doesn't seem reasonable to act like she got undeserved forgiveness. That's all your doing! You might think you were forced into it because of what happens if you don't, but alas that's not fair. All of the conveniences pointed out for this ending were also intentionally unrealistic, I believe. I've read fan theories that CDPR just wanted this fairy tail ending as an option here even though it was not realistic, hence Syanna's dialogue if you pursue it "you really want a fairy tale ending...". If you think about it, they could have easily made Syana written as a forgivable character instead of a manipulative unjustified one. We can interpret it as them feeling Syanna was really evil but if you can't bare it they provided an out for fairy tale lovers. I think going to prison and having Dandelion save you from death row is the intended canon. So in a way the critiques were right on, it's just that CDPR knew and chose it anyway, for this special occasion and for the sake of certain fans.
Another great video, thanks :) Id love to know if you read your comments man, honestly many of your views are interesting and I agree with majority of them usually, however one mind can only see and notice so much, reading what others think and how they take it is a great way to see the story in a new light, or see small things you possibly missed. Im curious as to how is it possible that your Witcher videos have fewer views than your other videos :( Personally I think the story is mainly about acceptance, batteling ones demons or something along those lines, accepting your nature and your place in the world, if you cant - hatred, vengeance, pain and blood. And yea, I liked the curse more as a unknown as well, I do not think however, that clasifying it as the game did, exludes it from being biological or of higher nature, it can still be both, we only really learned how it manifests in an individual, it doesnt apply equally to all, but yea, it could have been more impactful.
I do read them. Replying can take a long time though, so i don't usually reply unless someone asks a direct question. I think the witcher videos have less views just because i made them earlier. My views are all over the place in general though because some videos get views from the algorithm recommending them, while others don't, and some get views from youtube searches and some don't. Anyway, i'm glad you've been enjoying my videos, and i have been reading your comments.
My main problem with Blood and Wine was that the location was way too colourful for a Witcher game, and that i'm just not that interested in the whole vampires fantasy.
The only thing I disliked was that although I had been shouting to everyone "SYANNA WANTS TO KILL ANARIETTA", I've been ignored, that broad died and I turned out to be the one to blame.
Ugh, Dettlaff was an angsty 13 y/o boy who thinks the world should revolve around his tender little ego and Syanna was a spoiled brat who needed a punch in the face and someone to tell her to grow the f up. I spent the entire main plot dancing around their temper tantrums to protect my awesome friend Regis and the good-hearted, amusing Queen Henrietta. But whatever, crappy main plot be damned, I loved this DLC and in the end my friends were safe and Geralt got to semi-retire with Yennefer in the only upgradable game home I have ever enjoyed. I do wish they had explored the dichotomy between chivalric ideals and inevitable human behaviors more though.
i disagree with syanna not being sympathetic. why should she show regret for taking revenge? deceiving dettlaff to carry out her revenge was kinda a dick move, but the revenge against the knights is in itself well justified from her point of view. apart from being a dick towards dettlaff her only flaw is not realizing that anarietta should be forgiven for being spineless as a child.
If someone came and murdered your family then most people would blame the survivor for taking revenge. They don’t need to show guilt because the person deserved it. The possible consequences of it aside guilt is not required here for it to be sympathetic and you hit the point exactly that her taking revenge is something we can already sympathise with and don’t need guilt. I think most would see guilt as a form of inconsistency in a character that was treated like shit for a long time because of a bullshit curse and hurt by these individuals. Why should she end up feeling guilty?
To be honest the dialouge that determine the ending is really stupid cause anna could explain everything to her sister also ask for forgiveness without geralt saying anything to anna sister. Hos dlc was better story
@@NeverKnowsBest Sometimes when I use the whirl the camera starts to face upwards and zooms into Geralt's back. Eh, I think it's unavoidable, thx anyway.
That last moment when he turns towards you is so perfect
I read the books, and genuinely cried when Regis appeared out of nowhere. He was such an endearing and fun character in the books, which made his death feels very sad. Meeting him again in the expansion really feels like meeting old friend, and the game conveyed that perfectly
as someone who didnt read the book i 100% see that, he had a great rapport with geralt
@@bishop6881 I felt so happy for Geralt in that moment, strygga castle was such a gut punch of a chapter for me seeing someone he cared a lot for come back was really good storytelling in my opinion
@@bishop6881 first meeting Geralt and Regis in books is one of the best scenes in whole saga :)
i was reading the in-game book, "an evening with a vampire" where i first heard of regis. i wanted to search beauclair for him once i reached the DLC but he came to me
CD Projekt Red did an amazing job on this gem 😁
the part about Dettlaff acting emotional and out of character isn't actually true, he was always very emotional, Regis confirms that vampires feel a lot more intensely than humans do with all of their emotions and Dettlaff has always been an overly emotional being even for a vampire, so I feel it's very reasonable to think someone as smart and manipulative as Syanna can take advantage of that, As for the scene with both of them, you're not taking Dettlaff's emotional state into account, he thought he was hurt before and took action but now that he knows the actual truth he's hurting on a whole other level, much like a human that does something harsh without thinking at the moment, Except Dettlaff does that even more intensely cuz he's way more emotional and emotionally vulnerable than any human, so it would make sense that he wants to make everyone hurt, not to mention killing Syanna doesn't really do much to her, she already knew the risk and accepted that.
Spot on mate
Dettlaff is a good boy just naive and not aware of the humans lies and hate and their petty intrigues - humans can be alwful , malicious , filth minded with wrong intentions and i can see that every day and believe me sometimes I really prefer to be far away from them to shut myself out , to never look back and just relax after getting far away from all the noise and stupidity. so,... if i can feel that imagine what a vampire from the witcher universe can feel ! so i can't judge Dettlaff . and i don't think he is the real monster in that story.
I’m sorry, but when your a thousand year old higher being and with a plethora of life experience it just seems extremely childishly stupid to go “well, let’s do a genocide” because your girlfriend dumped you. I know that vamps are extremely emotional, but shouldn’t someone be able to curb their emotion as age gets on, we as short lived humans don’t have this problem, I think given a few hundred years at MOST this shouldn’t be a applicable excuse.
@@731freeman maybe a thosand year old human does that, you're forgetting this is a vampire, an entirely different being with an entirely different existence and emotional process. just because they look like humans doesn't mean they behave like one.
even a human with a chemical imbalance in their brain acts very differently than our conception normal. now imagine a different species with different understandings of existence(being immortal and all)
@@731freeman also, you're saying a higher being. you might believe a higher being behaves better or more mature than a human or isn't petty like a human! but that's just your conception(as a human) of what a higher being should be!
the fact is, it's the "Higher being" that decides what it's like to be a higher being.
we are as humans, always concern with the consequences of our actions because of our mortality, we live short lives so it's very precious to us. our actions might shorten this our lives or others and generally we don't want that(death, imprisonment, permanent injury and so on) but something like higher vampires don't really have that kind of concerns, they will never die and get hurt or have their lives shortened. so instead of thinking about it, they have the option to just act without thinking.
That magnificent little final moment of the end cutscene with Regis about deserving a rest, where Geralt looks right at the player and smiles,...
after hundreds of hours with this character,... that almost makes my eyes leak (certainly lump in throat territory).
Bravo to CDPR for giving us that farewell
(I'm gonna 4k play that and screenshot it for a background)
13:00 the man he killed was detlaff's friend, that's why he reacted so strongly after killing him, not because the guy was an "innocent" person
Another thing that makes Blood and Wine such a wonderful sendoff is that it comes full circle, referencing Witcher 1 in ways that have been entirely ignored otherwise. For example, nearly all of the enemies in this DLC, such as Barghests, Bruxa, Garkains, Fleders, Kikimores, Archespores, Echinops', etc were originally seen in Witcher 1, and haven't been seen since. Also, The Lady of the Lake is back and offers Geralt Aerondight, arguably the best endgame silver sword just like in Witcher 1. The Aerondight quest is especially neat because it ties into Toussaint's "chivalry" lore so well: to get the sword, you need to "embody the five virtues", which can be done by making certain choices during other quests present in the DLC. This is such a cool touch that I'm surprised you didn't mention it in the video.
Never played TW1 but this information sure helps give a bit more context to the encounters in B&W! Thanks mate!
I wish he talked more about the details in the world. Like people working in the morning and party hard at night etc. Also when he talked about the setting's distance from the original game, he could mention the people not believing the poverty in Velen when you vşisit the tavern where Gwent tournament takes place in.
Also I wonder if he went to prison because apparently you can get her killed somehow, but didnt know that while playing lol.
@@erikhendrickson59 you must hate witcher 3 otherwise i don't understand why you wouldn't have played the others
I haven't because I can't I love the Witcher 3 but can't afford a PC.
I'm just happy Geralt and Yennefer finally get to retire in peace, in a stunningly beautiful land. That, after having lived hard lives for decades, saved the world, and somehow managed to raise a daughter who will soon be Empress of Nilfgaard... I couldn't be happier for them. They deserve it.
It was explaned why deathlaff left syana when be discovered that she was the one manipulating him. He didnt want to make a rash decition because he was emotionel, he wanted to cool down before talking to her. Regis explanes that vampires are sorta kinda like animales that react extreamly when it comes to love
29:00 dude, I'm from Poland and I haven't noticed that 'Roach' has this second meaning in my native language :D your research is really great
Man, I had goosebumps during the last 5 minutes of the video
I have goosebumps and shivers because I have covid but can relate
@@mydloSA 💀💀
Deattlaff true nature as a high vampire (beast-like instincts and feelings when enraged) is what brings him to the decision of making that threat . He knows about it and act accordingly . When he finally found Syanna and figured out what happened he was about to kill her , but because of the fear of acting solely on instinct he wanted to wait at least a bit of time . The burning the city part was only there as to say "You will not run away at all costs" it wasn't a punishment for humans ( and honestly at that point , if syanna run away he would have turned in to a beast anyway ). Syanna herself killed the people who she thought betrayed her during her childhood , it's not like she would have accepted the destruction of the city only to save her life . I don't think this part of the story was too unreasonable .
This is how I took it as well, the expansion took a great care in showing how these "good" vampires battle with their nature, imagine you fall in love with a human only to find out it was a lie, but you are intelligent and knowing of your nature enough to take a step back as it were. That being said, I also do believe that to a degree Detlaff was hiding from human faults, in order to justify his suffering to keep them alive, seeing how even the one he loved is flawed and hurt him has brought up all the rage and hurt he had over a long period of time, put that together with his nature and i see why raizing a whole city would be on his mind, especially since he knows he can. They are not people, not human, Regis makes us forget that because he lived and interacted with humans for such a long time, but even he has his momentst and issues, Detlaff goes numb to it after Syana betrays him and goes all out to get it all out.
I never saw it particularly as a bad writing, or fitting the characters around the story since Detlaff is made by CDPR. What did make me raise and eyebrow is how Syana made him fall in love with her in the first place, since to my mind she isnt that brilliant nor persuasive, so I do believe there is love between them, but still I would want to see more of how it happened to be convinced. And why Syana thought using a master vampire for her personal dirty work, lying to him no less, was a good idea. Imo her going into hiding and tricking Detlaff for no obvious reason was the biggest fault of the story.
I agree. That's how I saw it too. I never saw Detlaff as trying to destroy Beauclair out of revenge. Rather, he knows who is protecting Syanna. And that nobles will hide behind the blades of their soldiers and the common folk.
Just as he sends a horse of lesser vampires rather than risk himself.
We can quite forget that this is second "princess" curse of the black sun (which on books were described as unsolved neurological mutation, some kind of magical brain tumor) which is actually true and dangerous thing, basically making her both unnaturally charming and sociopathic.
First princess was remake of snow white tale, where our lady, after failed assassination attempt befriended with pack of dwarves and started mercilessly raiding neighbouring lands. Earning nickname 'dzieżba' for impaling unlucky population.
(For anyone interested, slaying 7 dwarves + cute princess on main city square gave Geralt title of Butcher from Blaviken)
@@jarosaww2825 *Dzierzba, which means shrike - bird that impales their food on thorns or other sharp objects.
I mean Regis explains detlaffs personality pretty damn thoroughly if you missed it that’s kind of your fault. He was upset about killing de la coix because they became friends. I mean Regis tells you that detlaff felt strong emotions ever someone for just giving him an apple and asking nothing in return. Everything he does makes absolute sense from what Regis tells you about him..
"Overly emotional schoolboy. It's dumb."
That's literally his character. He doesn't process emotions like mature humans. Even Regis mentions that Dettlaff (and vampires in general) feels everything more strongly than humans
Doesn't make it any more compelling though. You understand that when 'higher vampires feel everything 1000 times more powerfull than humans' for a human viewer looks like a 16 year old twilight schoolboy on a powertrip, something wasn't really done right. In general it's dangerous to base the main characteristic on the big antagonist on something that is out of human grasp. The fact that vampires feel everything so much stronger than humans is hard to picture or to relate too, and something that a non litterature based mediumm (that doesn't have access to internal viewpoints to properly describe those feelings) has a hard time translating. And it ends up very abstract, so much so that the game does a very poor job at picturing it.
@@MrVolke13 I disagree. I totally bought his character and it seemed most players did as well. Feeling something more intensely, at least to me, sounds exactly like an immature twilight schoolboy on a powertrip, and so his portrayal seemed entirely plausible. The other option was to make him parallel some real-life stalker examples, but for an extremely powerful vampire, stalking and playing tricks from a distance seems too meek. I mean, powertrips and megalomania is generally what intense feelings lead to, do they not? I don't see why the concept is hard for humans to picture or relate to.
@@MrVolke13 it's the nature of vampires in the lore. These creatures didn't even know what lying and deception was before the conjunction.
@@MrVolke13 What makes something compelling is entirely subjective. It's the same as saying "It's not fun" or "It's not interesting" as argument points. It can't be measured objectively.
The bitcher
I'm so glad I got recommended your channel. Fantastic critique. It's rare to find someone who can legitimately criticize something even if they enjoy it.
I agree. This guy is very talented.
anyone can give an opinion many people don't agree with what he said here and there are other videos where he says some really dumb stuff also. still interesting to listen but fantastic and rare not really
@@DarknessFlameMedia His video on cyberpunk when he tried to argue that cyberpunk had more rpg elements than witcher 3 because you can carry different types of guns was REALLY dumb. If that's the case then I guess Call of Duty is an RPG 🙄
I have put 250 hours into my first playthrough of W3. I think that's amazing value for 35 quid. For me it's the best game ever despite all its flaws
Ive got 350 hours for 12 pounds, fantastic value, i just started another playthrough and im at the baron questline
Try Bloodborne or darks souls 1 or 3. Witcher was my favorite Till I tried Bloodborne and then souls. I probably have 1000 hours in Bloodborne alone and then 1000 across ds1,2,3. They don’t have anywhere near the story telling Witcher has, but they play so well that it’s hard to play Witcher 3 anymore (unfortunately). Just a recommendation if you haven’t tried, might find your new favorite game.
This game and red dead redemption are truly stellar.
@@derekcampbell4209 well, Bloodborne and Souls games definitely have better combat and bosses, but it doesn't have that depth Witcher 3 has, The size of Witcher 3 crushes almost any title, how the quests are written is phenomenal, music, exploration, World, setting, characters-they are all perfect, and none of games tops Witcher 3 mostly because of these.
@@derekcampbell4209 writing and story in bloodborne and dark sous are slightly better than tw3
I never understood why choosing to "reunite" the sisters at the finale was the "good" ending. Syanna was responsable for many atrocious deeds and she should be punished.
The answer is easy anna is f*cking blind with love!
True, although if you don't "reunite" them they both die, so that's her list completed and she basically got what she wanted. The only ways you can have Syanna die but not Anna Henrietta you have to either leave Syanna trapped in the dream world, or not bother getting the ribbon if you do go there.
And if you do that you're sent to Jail
If im not mistaking, she goes to jail anyway.
Well, she Did some bad shit, for sure, but how she was treated when she was a kid because that she was diffrent, and how she got beaten by Royal knights getting thrown into forest without food isn't great either. Everyone deserves second chance in my opinion
This last scene still gives me the chills in the best way possible. Thank you for an awesome video capturing the soul of this last chapter of the Witcher videogame series.
The point about Blood and Wine not experimenting isn't exactly true. It would be if that was the first DLC for the game, but it's not. Hearts of Stone came out before, and was an excellent story-focused content which broke out of the standard formula, and - as you've pointed out yourself, in your HoS critique video) wouldn't fulfill the "need for more of the same", which BaW does.
That alone is, from a certain perspective, an experiment on the developers' part - instead of repeating what they've done with the first DLC, they've explored reiterating what made the base game enjoyable in the first place, which greatly compliments the final destination of the DLC (which you also pointed out yourself) - being a send off.
Should this DLC have been something totally new, different, experimenting and heavily deviating from the core of the Witcher saga, the send off wouldn't have been as powerful as it was when we were once again immersed in what we've grown to love.
You deserve more subs and views great work
Interesting point of view! You pointed out a few things I hadn't thought of while I was playing through it, such as Dettlaff's whole "gonna raze the city" deal and how silly it all seems looking back on it. I got so caught up in the drama that the flaws in the narrative didn't stick out much- good catch! Very fair review and good critique.
I don't think it's as silly as he makes it. Regis repeatedly says why Detlaff is acting that way. Vampires are emotional creatures. He suppresses his rage in their 1st meeting. But he's made a threat. He can't back out of it.
It didn't feel anymore contrived than the opening of HoS.
I think its justifiable if you look deeply into the conversations, but the main story that most people see doesn’t adequately show how emotional detlaff is being
I can't tell you how much I've played and love this game. Words literally can't describe the extent of its greatness
"the fact that he's been fooled and manipulated so easily by Sianna is hard to believe. He's an ancient vampire..." I think this was intentional, to show the power of love.
The massive amount of top-tier content supplied by this DLC is remarkable. It's full of new assets, new engrossing stories, a lot of well-written new characters, and offers so many new things to experience both in terms of quests and exploration. Blood and Wine is so ambitious and generous, that it's on par with what many other game developers would release as its own stand-alone game at full price. It puts most other DLC's ever released to shame.
This is awesome. That ending really made me sad just thinking about how this will be the last time we will ever see Gerald in a video game.
@RKProductions Yeah, but they stated that it won't be centered around Geralt or Ciri, although they could make appearances. B&W is most likely the last time we will get to really experience Geralt as an individual.
@@kittaylor5752 It could be about another witcher or no witcher entirely. Thronebreaker showed very well how a game like this could look like.
Geralt is in the Gwent card game
Blood and Wine is like Citadel from ME 3, love letter to the fans who stuck with the games the whole way :)
Rewatching this video I still disagree with your take on the main story but still, its so gratifying to hear put the many good things about this dlc into words :)
Oh man, Citadel was such a great DLC. Sendoff DLC done right!
I appreciate you pointing out how the people in BnW respect Geralt. It’s his fantasy as well
"maybe this is where Geralt belongs" *legit tears up*
you did amazing sweetie
I know is been 3 years since the video came out, but there is a thing I need to point out and it's abour Roach. I agree that the quest where we hear her talk it's mostly fan service but I have to disagree about Geralt not caring for his horses.
In the books Geralt talks about how he always name his horses Roach because he "doesn't care for them" and give them the same name to better remember them but the point of this is that Geralt doesn't really feels like this.
Geralt cares a lot about them, as point out by Milva when she said that he acts like he doesn't care and want to get rid of her but in reallity he never does it. He wants to feel like he doesn't care so he invents excuses but the reason of giving them the same name all the time is to confort himself, so that he can feel he never left them, that she is always with him.
Geralt is a very emotional character but he tries to not show that, but we can see that he betrays that in his actions, and we can see that in the way he treats Roach.
Despite liking the video and your analisis, I think that you obviate some aspects of the characters in the whole Witcher 3 analisis and that hurts your critics on the story itselft (In the main game as in the expansions), but that is my opinion.
I think that you make great arguments on some of the gameplay aspects though.
Geralt DESERVED a happy ending, and so, that is exactly what he got, a peaceful semi-retirement alongside Yennefer, their adopted daughter Ciri stopping by now and again, inside of a country that treats them with deserved respect, and owning a vineyard.
I loved that triss came to visit me at the end it was the best endgame reward ever
I have played this game through to the end 3 times put in over 700 hours into it and I have never noticed Geralt look into the camera at the end until now!!! What an ending for the game and this critique!! Hats off to you
I tend to disagree on the Detlaff front. If you paid any attention to what Regis said during all these quests then you'd know Vampires are extremely emotional beings who love deeply and feel emotions much more intensely almost in an animalistic way. In addition to that its mentioned that Detlaff is a particularly emotional vampire. So to say his reaction to finding out Syanna was the blackmailer is out of character is incorrect. Yes he loves deeply and cares for others but that is a double edged sword. He also reacts very violently when he feels pain, loss or betrayal. This is why he cut off his own hand cause the man he had to kill became a very good friend to him. He also didn't question Syanna right then and there as they were surrounded by Ducal guardsmen and like others have stated he didn't want to act too rashly to what she said. He threatens Beauclair because that's his whole character. He becomes almost murderous when someone steals his spot or cuts a line so his reaction makes sense in that way. I do however agree that the waiting the whole three days and Syanna's lack of regret or empathy was an issue. It kind of made me conflicted about saving her my second playthrough and I just wanted to let Detlaff kill her. Its also absurd to believe Anna forgives her sister just like that and every victim just has to be satisfied.
Nearly every time something happened in this dlc, I thought "wow this is cool but I wish they tried exploring it more". I couldn't agree more with this video.
Thw main game is actually ciri's story, hearts of stone is actually olgierd's story, and blood and wine is actually regis's story. Geralt is allways a side character in evreyone else story.
Not sure if I agree with that, but I do enjoy the thought that Geralt is character like Mad Max or The Man With No Name. It actually fits incredibly well. I'd love a game or film or whatever in this universe about a Witcher, adapting the style of a Spaghetti Western or something along those lines.
The only major problem I have with this is the complaint on difficulty from level scaling. You can get grandmaster witcher gear almost immediately after starting the expansion which trivializes 99% of the fights with anything that isnt 10 levels over yours.
I take issue with your portrayal of Dettlaff’s motivation. He is not just upset about a bad breakup. He was manipulated into killing people by the very person he was trying to save. But I do agree that his decision to torch the city is a total non-sequitur.
So Dettlaffs motivation for trying to kill an entire city's population is that he's angry he was manipulated into killing people by syanna. He's upset about bring tricked to kill people so he tries to kill more people. I was exaggerating Dettlaff's response a little bit, but there's no way to justify it without there being big problems with how he acts.
@@NeverKnowsBest I believe most Higher Vampires see humans as inferior forms of life. Dettlaff is being described by Regis as a more primitive/instinctive being that could never handle the more complicated sides of human society. He probably started mingling with them only after he fell in love with Syanna, probably because he thought they must have good qualities, like the woman he fell in love with.
When he learned that Syanna was using him the whole time, I think he came to agree with the "standard" opinion the Vampire race reserves for humans: that they are unworthy, petty, dishonest, manipulative insects. As for destroying Beauclair, If my memory serves me, Syanna wanted to take the throne from her sister. Dettlaff would make sure that she would become the duchess of dust and ruins. When he learned he was being used as a boogeyman, he decided to become a boogeyman in truth.
+ForFingon
" I think he came to agree with the "standard" opinion the Vampire race reserves for humans"
you think this is how it was but the game does not show this and even though this would be detrimental for his character development they don't bother to even write a single throwaway line for this? unlikely and then why does he not just kill her if he is going to kill her later anyway and why would he attack the city even if he thinks of humans as trash now there is not really a need to fight the city and Geralt who is kinda going to fuck him up and stuff
"Syanna wanted to take the throne from her sister. Dettlaff would make sure that she would become the Duchess of dust and ruins."
How would he know this.....and also he kinda kills her or at least tries so mmmmmh.....was she going to be the dead dutches of the burned city?
@ForFingon
"He probably started mingling with them only after he fell in love with Syanna"
There's no evidence for this and he's had 1,500 years of living in a world with humans. He must have had some contact with them as he meets Syanna in a human shop when selling something silver, and i find it hard to believe that in such a long time span he can't have had experience with humans. But if that was the case the game needed to explain it better. Instead we get a very mixed message. We're told Dettlaff is ancient, intelligent and not just someone who would kill without good reason. Then later in the game we're shown Dettlaff is naive and "primitive" by his response to Syanna's betrayal (and someone who would kill a huge number of innocents without a good reason).
I think your explanation for Dettlaff is the best explanation you can have for his response and reasoning, but it still feels inconsistent and like the game fails to tell its story correctly.
"I think he came to agree with the "standard" opinion the Vampire race reserves for humans: that they are unworthy, petty, dishonest, manipulative insects."
But that's not the standard view of vampires (at least judging from whats said by regis and by the 3 books in tesham mutna). Vampires see humans as lesser in a similar way to how humans see animals. They don't have any hate for them, they just see them as less developed and as a food/commodity source, and in fact they seem to also show curiosity and sometimes sympathy for humans. If the standard view of vampires was humans should be exterminated then the world of the witcher would be a very different place.
"If my memory serves me, Syanna wanted to take the throne from her sister"
Again, there's no evidence for this. The game only shows her as wanting to kill annarietta for revenge. And she's happy to trade her life for a chance to kill annarietta in the bad ending, which supports the idea she only cares for revenge and not personal gain.
@@NeverKnowsBest I have only played Blood and Wine once, back when it was released so I probably filled the gaps on my own. Maybe I remember wrong but that is the impression I got: Dettlaff was oblivious of the more complicate functions of human/social behavior. For example three centuries before the game, he only killed a fiend which had previously murdered 200 humans, after he learned that said fiend had killed a boy who offered the monster an apple, expecting nothing in return. In my head canon, Detlaff gives 3 days to Syanna to see if she will surrender her life for the good of her people, or not.
Fantastic. Brought back wonderful memories of the game through your detailed description. Thank you.
You have made my mornings in heavy traffic, bearable :) Quality content!
One of my best friends killed his ex-fiancee, her new lover, her mother and himself after the break-up.
It's not schoolboy-emotion, it's having a too romanticist view of love(because that's what Toussaint is, a parody of silly idealist views), how it can make a good, rational person do horrible things and how dangerous unvented anger can be. A similar thing goes for Syanna.
That sounds more like viewing love as ownership. I don't see that as having to do with romantig love, but the view that other people only have a right to live if they do what you want them to, if they are of worth to you.
My impression is that a lot of murders and a lot of racism, sexism, religious wars have to do with that.
On the other hand overly rational beliefs can lead you to the idea of 'the end justifies the means' which will be a comfort to everyone who gets to be the victim of the way to the end.
I don't think there's a black and white decision that will work for every human the same way with regard to love or reason. Personally I think the most simplified measuring stick that makes sense to me is "Do unto others as you want them to do unto you" - if you are in a position of being able to do, in the first place.
@@m.di.c. "That sounds more like viewing love as ownership."
That's what a monogamic (un)spoken contract implies, yes. "You're mine, I'm yours."
"I don't see that as having to do with romantig love, but the view that other people only have a right to live if they do what you want them to, if they are of worth to you. "
I don't see that at all. I see it as perceived betrayal and a violent response to said betrayal. Imagine someone claiming to have your back, only to fire the first bullet into it when stuff hits the fan. You're not going to just let him go either.
@@malchir4036 unspoken contract that the new lover, and her mother also belong to him so he can kill them?
I don't think I'll convince you, and you certainly won't convince me.
@@m.di.c. That's not what I said. You give a moral objection when I'm not making a moral argument.
Look at animals in monogamic relationships. Female reproductive rights are traded for support and protection by the males. When the contract is broken, it can turn irrational and violent.
Yeah but Dead Laugh is thousands of years old. His relationship with Syanna was a blink in his lifetime
I personally prefer the ending where syanna is killed by detlaff and I find out that syanna planned on killing her sister because it kind of justifies making the correct decision as she caused all the death and destruction in the story so she is ultimately to blame and deserves to die
Yeah, I regretted the ending he showed that I chose too. Meh.
I love your reviews. Great incite and I love the choice in music to complement your points. You sir are doing a great job. Keep up the great work.
Thank you! I really enjoy listening to a games soundtrack and trying to find a good selection of music that both shows off the soundtrack a bit and also feels like it fits with what i say in the video. Your comment is the first i've ever had about use of music, so it means a lot to me.
Oh, that was the game's soundtrack? Excellent score. Never played the game series myself, but I could see it being fun.
About the enemy levels its been awhile but I believe it has a recommended level before entering the DLC area.
The moment when Geralt broke the 4th wall. 😭😭😭
The problem with Syanna's story already being told is, in my opinion, the bane of most of Witcher games' stories. The story about looking for Ciri being chased by Wild Hunt has already been told. The story about Nilfgaard's invasion and horrors of war has already been told. The story about racism has already been told, and the story about witch hunt has been as well. I honestly wish they decided to make it something other than a sequel. I wish they made more stories like that of Gaunter o'Dimm, without the need to include the main characters and countless repetitions of what has already been in books.
And about something previously seen in books being made less interesting... well, this plagues most of the stories in games as well, strangely. Like the whole Wild Hunt thing, or the White Frost.
I took the unifying theme of Blood and Wine to be the danger of letting the good that you see in someone blind you to that person's darker side. Both Regis and Anna Henrietta make this mistake, and both suffer for it. Of course, this interpretation may not work for the "good" ending, but I viewed the "bad" ending as obviously the "correct" one.
I think you miss the point of the good ending. Regis makes the mistake, but I think it's possible for you, the player, to make the opposite mistake with Syanna. I think most people do this.
I think you miss the point of the good ending. Regis makes the mistake, but I think it's possible for you, the player, to make the opposite mistake with Syanna. I think most people do this.
I think you miss the point of the good ending. Regis makes the mistake, but I think it's possible for you, the player, to make the opposite mistake with Syanna. I think most people do this.
I think you miss the point of the good ending. Regis makes the mistake, but I think it's possible for you, the player, to make the opposite mistake with Syanna. I think most people do this.
I think you miss the point of the good ending. Regis makes the mistake, but I think it's possible for you, the player, to make the opposite mistake with Syanna. I think most people do this.
Toussaint is quite a depiction of a more Mediterranean Burgundy; although Burgundy to its largest extent did include the Mediterranean. So it is not completely a fairytale region.
I know I’m a bit late to this but I don’t think the way Detlaff acts is out of character. Vampires in the Witcher are known to have a less than settler view on humanity, Regis and Detlaff being exceptions to that, from what we know about vampires from the Tusha Mutna quest it’s clear that most vampires see humans as little more than a bunch of inconsequential, lesser beings. Knowing that it’s not unreasonable to think that an emotional vampire like Detlaff would massacre a city. What’s the difference in to thousands of less squirrels or deer or any animal to a human. It’s just not something that most people get hung up over. So he’s acting in a fit of rage but I don’t think it goes outside the characterization as a vampire. He is intelligent so he probably knows that ruining Beuclair would be a longer and darker revenge than simply killing Sienna. It’s clear from her character that she really does at heart want to be back home, she just is really resentful of her treatment.
Why does Detlaff allow himself to be so easily manipulated by Syanna? Come on, the answer is obvious. The Syanna booty was just that damn good. Sure worked on me. I WAS able to see her as a sympathetic character and therefore I got the good ending. I don't know, all the 'problems' you see with the story aren't really problems in my view. I was able to understand everything and it all made sense in my head, the Detlaff character included. This certainly is not as good as Hearts Of Stone but that's just because HOS is a masterpiece. BAW is very good in its own right, it's just not as chilling and gripping a tale. But not because of the reasons you gave. It's not as chilling or gripping simply because of its nature. It's more grand and lighthearted despite some dark themes and it doesn't really work as a parable. But it's still brilliant, especially when you consider Orianna and the meta game in those scenes and the Night To Remember trailer. Absolutely fantastic stuff.
when I found out Syanna was the one that had her thumb over a ancient higher vampire using him like a puppet......I was like damn you a bad bitch ain't you lol I enjoyed her character. She deserved more screen time
BW for me is the best dlc/expansion ever alongside the Sheogorath dlc in ES4. It feels like an entirely separate game
I think you missed the fundamental point of this story. By expecting Dettlaff to act logically, believing Regis's understanding of his friend, you ended up interpreting his actions as poor story choices, when in fact they're anything but.
The thing you must understand about Dettlaff is that he is a monster, as quick to rage as he is to devotion. You puzzled at his decision not to punish Syanna immediately, once all was revealed. But simply killing her would not have sated his fury. He wanted to punish the whole world. Of course, he felt remorse for killing a decent man, as abusers often do. But that doesn't stop them from proceeding to greater evils in retaliation for wounded pride. In looking for logic in Dettlaff's actions, you blinded yourself to the point the story was making, that he wasn't a logical man. He's a prideful creature, who, once wronged, felt justified in any act of evil in revenge that came to mind. Instead of dismissing this as out of character for a basically good man, ask yourself, was Dettlaff really a good man?
This brings us to why Regis defends him so stubbornly. Obviously, Regis is a loyal friend, and grateful for Dettlaff saving his life. But it's important to remember about abusers that they groom allies as much as they groom victims. Dettlaff built not simply a bond of trust with Regis, but a profound obligation, creating a convenient, powerful ally that leapt to his defense when he began his violent rampage. In real life, the ordinary human monsters of the world do this all the time, surrounding themselves with defenders, to assure the world that they're good people despite having done bad things.
So here's the interesting thing. Syanna groomed Dettlaff just as Dettlaff groomed Regis. That's not the only reflection the two share. Syanna 's arrogant disregard for the lives of the people of Beauclair is an extension of her noble birth. And though it's despicable, it is perfectly mirrored by Annarietta's disregard for the danger she puts her people in when she locks up Syanna instead of handing her over to Dettlaff. As aristocrats, Syanna and Annarietta share a similar sense of superiority as "higher" vampires Dettlaff and Regis, who think of humans as little more than pets or annoying mosquitoes. So ultimately, Dettlaff is really a reflection of Syanna 's dark side. And it's important to note that Annarietta behaves exactly the same when wronged, meting out harsh judgments for any betrayal. Even Regis seems all too willing to explain away Dettlaff's evil, even in the midst of his reign of terror. All share a disregard for the suffering of the ordinary citizens of Baueclair. Only Geralt and the knights make it their top priority.
But despite this, what the story is really about is redemption. You say that redemption demands remorse. Yet all parties seemed to be waiting around for one another to take responsibility before any was willing to admit their own. It's a stalemate, and it's up to the player to break it. And therein lies the genius of the story.
What you know, but many players may not, is that Blood and Wine was designed for Geralt to revisit one of the first Witcher tales, The Lesser Evil. In that tale, the Princess Renfri, also labeled with the curse of the black sun, was persecuted for decades by a sorcerer convinced she would bring about the end of the world. The mystery to the curse of the black sun is at the center of Witcher lore. Like the Law of Surprise, the Last Wish, elder blood, and many other instances where characters perceive the hand of destiny steering their actions, the Black Sun curse condemned Renfri to the life of a pariah. The question then is that, when she turns to evil, is it because of the curse, or because belief in it has turned everyone against her? Likewise, is Syanna evil because of the curse, or because she was treated like garbage all her life, before being exiled, robbed, beaten, and abused?
In The Lesser Evil, Renfri was given a choice to be the better person and walking away from revenge, though doing so would not give her redress, nor protect her from the sorcerer who had persecuted her. Geralt could only offer her a chance to prove she wasn't the monster everyone said she was. But by then it was too late. Even if the curse was nonsense, she was so poisoned by years of abuse and persecution, she couldn't break from her path. She had essentially become the Punisher, unable to rise above the evil and be the better man, so to speak. So the mystery of the curse remains. In the lore of the Witcher, it's never clear whether destiny or free will and chance rules the world.
This is why it was important that Syanna couldn't let go of her bitterness long enough to feel remorse. In a way, she was Renfri, trapped in the same bitterness. But this time, Geralt could choose. He could omit the news that she'd plotted to kill her sister, and give both women an opportunity to be forgiven. Regis is there, as full of condemnation for Syanna as he was of excuses for Dettlaff. But by now you should have worked out that Regis, far from being the voice of reason, is deeply biased. After all, what would be the point of hanging onto blame or resentment? Punishment would have done no one any good. The bad ending, in which the two sisters die together, may have been justice, but it left Toussaint bereft and unstable.
To be sure, Annarietta was just as responsible for the suffering of Beauclair's citizens as Syanna , because in her royal arrogance, she refused to negotiate with Dettlaff. And the nobles Dettlaff murdered all had it coming because of what they'd done to Syanna. Dettlaff himself could have either forgiven Syanna , or killed her where she stood instead of waiting for her to give herself up willingly. His self-righteous wrath, far from being out of character, revealed him to be just as prone to callous cruelty as Syanna was toward him. If, like Regis, you think that Dettlaff could be forgiven for what he did, then you must also forgive Syanna for her relatively small part in simply being the catalyst for the vampire's rampage. By comparison, Syanna suffered far greater harm than Dettlaff ever had. Her original plan was focused solely on those who had harmed her. Dettlaff didn't care where his revenge landed.
So who really is the greater monster? I submit to you that Regis plays the part of unreliable narrator, his friendship and charm allowing you to forget that, though he's very fond of you, he, like Dettlaff and all other vampires, believes human lives matter less than vampire feelings. He assures you over and over that Dettlaff is not evil. Yet at the end of the day, evil is as evil does.
Ultimately, it seems to me this story's intent was to offer Geralt a do-over for The Lesser Evil, and by extension, offer us essentially the same choice Geralt once offered Renfri. Do we chose to forgive, or condemn? And regardless of what the recipient deserves, what does our choice say about us? That, sir, was the point.
You, good sir, are one of the main reasons why I enjoy such Witcher videos as much as I do. You can always be sure that someone will share their own different but also completely valid perspective, thank you for that.
Personally, you had me with breaking the stalemate in taking responsibility, and with your character comparisons, especially the Renfri one.
In retro perspective, I think I failed to see most of those deeper story aspects on my first and only (as of yet) playthrough of B&W and I’m glad I took the time to (rewatch this video once again) and scroll down the comment section
Edit: Spelling ^^
That...is actually a really interesting take. I don't know if that was what the writers intended, but I think I like it better than my initial interpretation. I originally thought that Dettlaff's initial characterization was intended to make him a somewhat sympathetic antagonist, but according to your reading, it would seem that that was just his mask, helped by apologists like Regis, to hide what a monster he really was. In that case, the final fight with Regis and Dettlaff wouldn't be a tragic confrontation between old friends, but rather Regis finally recognizing Dettlaff for what he was.
Even then, I think the execution was a little messy, though. In the ending in which Dettalff kills Syanna, and Geralt kills him, Geralt later asks Regis why he chose to stand against Dettlaff. Regis replies that rage had completely consumed Dettlaff. However, its unclear what, exactly, made Regis come to that realization. Was it Syanna's murder? Considering that Regis was still making excuses for Dettlaff even as he was in the process of murdering an entire city, I don't see why the murder of a woman whom Regis considers to be evil would make him think that Dettlaff had gone too far. Considering that that was essentially supposed to be the climax of Regis' arc, it kind of fell flat.
As for Syanna, well I have read The Lesser Evil. In it, Geralt tries (and ultimately fails) to convince Renfri to give up on her revenge quest. Her response is one of my favourite lines in the short story:
"And if I tell you, witcher, that I can neither forgive Stregobor nor renounce my revenge then I admit that he is right, is that it? I'd be proving that I am a monster cursed by the gods?"
She then talks about a freeman who would beat and rape her, and how she later killed him in revenge. Despite Geralt's insistence that she be the better person and walk away, that line forced me to confront whether she would really be as bad as people say if she refused to forgive what had been done to her. In my opinion, no.
With that in mind, when presented with the choice to suggest to Syanna that she try forgiving Annarietta, I decided against it, as it seemed pointless, and maybe even a little condescending. If all it would've taken for Syanna to give up on her revenge quest was someone suggesting that she give forgiveness a try, then you'd think that she'd have given up on it long ago. However, it appears that I was wrong, as that's the only way to get the "good" ending. It seems that game-Geralt, by virtue of being the Player Character, is far more persuasive than book-Geralt was. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
@@benl2140 Yeah, I think that's the nature of the game. It puts the story choices in your hands, even if it's not necessarily your story. Of course, the method of choosing dialog trees is a bit clumsy. I felt the same way you did, feeling as though it was condescending to just tell Syanna to renounce her anger now that her revenge (at least against Annarietta) ha failed. But then, what did she have to gain by hanging onto anger?
Of course, you can't yet really say in a game what you'd say in real life, nor have a game react to nuance. All they could do was offer a few branching options. But I think the gist of it is that the choice Geralt once offered to Renfri, the game now offers the player. And like Renfri, the player has developed an emotional stake in the story, because it's a damned gripping story. It's designed to thrust you back and forth through emotions, and make the good ending dependent on your willingness to leave aside your own desire for revenge.
And from what I can tell, many players were too invested in hating Syanna to see her side of it. Regis puts you on Dettlaff's side, and so you see Syanna through his eyes. That's why the game traps you in the fairytale world with Syanna, to get her side of the story. And though she's a pain in the ass, I found I completely understood why. It's not the Curse of the Black Sun that turned her evil. It was resentment for the way she was treated. And as with Renfri, she had a choice to leave it behind, to not be the puppet of fate, or other people's choices. To choose for herself.
Of course, if I were Geralt, I'd have chopped Stregobor's head off and lived happily ever after with Renfri. She was pretty awesome.
@@rottensquid I'm not sure I'd agree that the player is offered the same choice as Renfri. Neither Dettlaff nor Syanna did anything to harm Geralt (or the player) personally, so it's not really a matter of revenge vs forgiveness. I think only the person/people harmed by someone's actions can decide whether to forgive that person. I think the player's choice is more a matter of what the player considers to be justice. Does justice mean each person getting what they "deserve" (and, if so, what do they deserve?), or does it mean trying to achieve the outcome that's best for everyone?
Of course, if we suspend disbelief, it's really Syanna's decision (not Geralt's) to forgive or seek revenge that determines the ending. She just gets a little "help" from Geralt/the player.
@@benl2140 I mean, sure, you as the player aren't personally invested, nor is Geralt. Yet the outcome still relies entirely on you, in the same way the end of the main game isn't your triumph, but its outcome depends wholly on how supportive a father-figure you were. That's the subtle genius of the Witcher 3. It sneakily puts the choice in your hands, giving players the ending they asked for without even knowing it. Of course it's depicted as the choice of character. But I think the fact that it's ultimately in your hands has meaning beyond just being a game mechanic.
It gets back to The Lesser Evil, and Geralt's refusal to get involved. At the end of the day, by not taking sides, he ended up supporting the greater evil. Stregobor planted the seeds of the Black Sun rumor from the day Renfri was born, and was fully responsible for shaping her life into what it was. Geralt knew that from the get-go. By not getting involved, one aids the oppressor, much like how witnessing a murder and saying nothing about it isn't a neutral act.
In the game, Geralt sways the situation simply by getting involved, speaking to people, offering either judgement or compassion. He reframes the narrative. We like to think that we alone are responsible for our actions, but we're influenced by our communities, for good or ill. We're social creatures. Simply by seeing ourselves the way others see us, either through conformity or in defiance, who we are is affected.
That's why I think it's poignant that Geralt can change the outcome of the situation simply though his framing of Syanna's actions. By simply being seen as someone capable of good, of forgiveness, instead of a monster only capable of evil, he plants the idea in her head that she might be more than the curse made her. Like Renfri, I think Syanna too had doubts about herself, believed that there was something to the curse. That's the whole point of the curse as a story mechanic. It suggests that if you frame someone as a monster their whole lives, they will become one. So simply by reframing Syanna as a person capable of and deserving forgiveness, Geralt can break the cycle.
Loved it when Geralt breaks the forth wall in the end.
I like the critique, but disagree on the part of Syanna. The point is you have to teach her she was being a contemptible person with a loathsome mentality. You're meant to sympathize to a degree, but she is not a good person. The writers did a decent job making her actions understandable, for what it's worth.
Edit: I feel like the most obvious example of this is in the "bad" ending. Syanna is reviled. Geralt is given the option of putting a flower on her grave, or not. It's optional what you think of her.
Yep .... and now what do we have as a successor to this exceptional game? Now we have cyberpunk 2077 inferior on all points:
- The music
- The atmosphere
- the writing in general
- the complexity of the game in general
Everything is inferior it's a shame for a studio that had set the bar so high
I disagree. I think Cyberpunk is pretty phenomenal when it comes to atmosphere, music, and writing.
When it comes to complexity tho, I don't think it is even a competition. Cyberpunk is much more complex, when it comes to overall gameplay of the game. I don't think Cyberpunk is inferior on all points.
Story felt much more personal and I liked the fact that instead of chasing after a girl you barely know as a character, you are chasing after your own life. Side characters are pretty interesting but that was true for Witcher 3 as well. Atmosphere wise, it is pretty good too. The gama has great cinematography and visual design and it uses everything in its power to immerse the player in what they are doing.
Music is pretty good too.
I don't how could someone come to the conclusion that Cyberpunk is inferior in every single way without rose tinted glasses on.
This game is the gold star as for doc it not only takes the bases fane and improves it but gives you singeing new, the new enemy’s offer a great challenge and better yet, more rewarding gameplay, the setting touissant is phenomenal with so much love poored in to, I’ve seen people say this was disappointing because it did t offer HoS level of story yet then it’s not for you, this was made to give you what you already loved, like side quest, cool locations, interesting enemy’s, and great lore hidden in the world, and the story is still really good, even if it ain’t as good as wild hunt or HoS
Best expansion ever made.
*Doubt*
For me this was the piece of gaming that truly cemented Witcher 3 and CDPR as one of the greats. Sure, HoS had the more focused better writing but BaW had this aura and beauty that I've not seen in a long time in a video game. It honestly felt like a well deserved holiday (as you pointed out) after hundreds of hours of ordeals that you take Geralt through. It's just amazing that a place like this can exist in the same world as Velen for example and for the record yes, I absolutely explored every nook and cranny of Beauclair. Great work with the videos you're making, pretty much all of the videos you made are in my watchlist now xD, really good stuff!
I'm just now finding these. You make excellent videos.
This was truly an amazing experience. Thank you 🙏
Mannn. Almost 2025 and I still can’t get over how good HOS and BAW are. Unreal.
A brilliant critique. Love's blind but a higher vampire's supposed to be smart even if he's prone to emotions. I feel B&W is more about true friendship than vengeance. The 3 day time jump is just stupid. The surface shines but B&W 's just as shallow as the main game. Could've been so much better.
Very deep review. I loved it. Yet I hardly see the Heart of stone expansion as better. Even thos this one has one or two plot holes the amount of work here is way greater. To me, and to a lot of people, this expansion is, overall, the best in the whole gaming history. Finally fan service is not bad. At least in this expansion we have quest and stories around it (whereas in game like skyrim they will just hide an item on the map)
I think it makes complete sense to see blood and wine as the better expansion. Its a little unfair to compare it to hearts of stone when it was twice the price, and (i assume), more then twice the development cost/time. Blood and wine was a true expansion, and for anyone who just wants more of the witcher 3, then blood and wine is going to deliver on that desire way more than the smaller heart of stone. And blood and wine was truly great in its own way, i just think hearts of stone had the better written story.
Also i agree that fan service isn't bad. There's nothing wrong with giving fans what they want. In my eyes blood and wine is a love letter to witcher fans, and that approach contributes to the good qualities about blood and wine but may have also been a factor in the few shortcomings it has.
Anyway thanks for the comment here and on the pathfinder video. I'm glad you enjoyed the videos.
As a book fan, Toussant in blood and wine hit on my nostalgia buttons like nothing else, it's look and feel was executed beautifully
And Regis!!
what I learned from the strory is don't medlle with people in power. the city got atacked because duchess was too selfish to give her wicked sister I went to jail but I settled down with yen at the end and scene was just too cute so I am happy and think bad ending is the good ending
I did that metamorphosis bear build with the boosted toxicity talent so I could run 3 decoctions baseline (ekhidna, troll, ancient leshen), and got 5 more in combat (all damage), it was insane. yrden great for proc'ing status effects in that build
Metamorph Yrden build for the win! With the HoS enchantment on grandmaster griffin armor for extra trap goodness.
Holy goodness, your voice is sooo calming, my dude. I want you to do guided meditation. It would be incredible.
Your points are valid in regards of the writing loop for Dettlaff but also overly harsh. You also completely missed the point about SYANNA DEVELOPMENT. Dettlaff story and drive is about will, not entirely on right and wrong. His apprehension and passion is that he does not will the actions he is taking and this repulsed him to this level of passion. The threat on the city, however, is 'His will', his conclusion for being tricked. He doesn't share the same level of empathy for the people as a human, after all he believes himself above them (refer to the elder vampire choice when our protagonist has to persuade a Vampire lord to care for human plight). So you fail because you apply your level of empathy narrative to a creature that is more complicated.
Your Syanna analysis is the failing of those who do not truly understand the writers intention. From all intentions and purposes when she is discovered she is GUILTY to all who see the story and most would already have drawn conclusion of 'fck her!'. However, for a true RPGist there is the curiosity of 'why did she do it', so the writers challenges you to delve in and find out why she is how she is. At this point you can learn as little or as much as you want. If you go all the way you are rewarded by her change in personality and a possibility of redemption with her sister. It s writing genius and a subjective critique as yourselves should have seen this.
🔥🔥🔥
It is also redemption for Geralt being able to 'save' a princess cursed by the black sun.
Or not if Syanna and Anna die together.
Then it is a poetic tragedy and still in theme with the world of the Witcher.
I still can't decide which I like more.
Detlaff is a few centuries old, not thousands of years. And he is very naive and emotionally unstable. But attacking the city just to talk to Syanna is still stupid thing to do.
Good sir, I truly enjoy your content!!
13:10 u r forgetting the fact geralt didn't go there alone. he had soldiers with him. vampires knew they don't have time to chat.
When I first played B&W I had to show it to all the people from the discord comunity I was a part of, showing them everything that orlais should have been, from Dragon age. It is PERFECT in every way, also reminded me so much of the south of France, Nice Vence area, so beautiful.
That's what I was thinking. This was everything Orlais and their capital city should have been. The way Lieliana described it in Origins sounded glorious. Instead we got one area that was bland with bald npcs everywhere lol
I'm a bit confused, isn't the story of blood and wine the same as before - a debate about what makes a monster? Syanna is beautiful but acts like a monster. The spotted wight looks like a monster but doesn't have the nature of one. Maybe Syanna is only a monster because she was treated like one and dettlaff isn't really any worse than a human with a temper.
5:55 This! Balance both is and is not important in a single player game. Making sure the gameplay is fair matters far less than making sure the gameplay is fun. In a single player game you don’t have to make sure players are able to compete with each other fairly or that members of a party feel that they can contribute equally. There is just one player and the gameplay should be tailored for their enjoyment.
I absolutely love the Witcher 3 it's probably my favorite game .That being said I had the exact same feelings and response you did towards Detlaffs decision and the direction of the game after he has syanna right there. Every single thing you said after that I completely agree with and it was exactly my feelings and response . There was no best ending for me in blood and wine atleast what I personally wanted to happen and that left me with a really despondent feeling . Ran across your channel a few days ago with the dragon age video recommended to me I've only watched a couple other after that one so far but I've really loved your videos thanks for all the work you have put into atleast the ones I've seen I'm sure the same effort and passion will be in every other one I'll watch I plan on watching all of them the rest of this week it's been a pleasure . Thanks again
I mean Regis explains detlaffs personality pretty damn thoroughly if you missed it that’s kind of your fault. He was upset about killing de la coix because they became friends. I mean Regis tells you that detlaff felt strong emotions ever someone for just giving him an apple and asking nothing in return. Everything he does makes absolute sense from what Regis tells you about him.
Damn from 60 subs straight to 1k you really deserve it tho and as I see it given the quality of your content this channel will go big fast anyway congratulations on 1k subs!
As to the review itself, I can't add anything had the same issues (that spoon quest was my favourite quest from the dlc) I also did not do much besides a few side quests and the main quest so I probably missed a lot so I am going to replay it maybe sometimes in the feature when the gaming industry calms down with throwing out so many good games in rapid-fire mode.
I was planning to comment on your Pathfinder: Kingmaker video but first I wanted to play through the game and it turned out to be a bit longer than I expected but I probably will be through by the end of next week. Given how many patches they have been throwing out for it the game will be probably quite different by then compared to when I started playing it but it really needs some hard patching.
Thanks Pedda. I got lucky really. The Kingmaker devs didn't send out review copies so there wasn't any early reviews, and then as the video got more views from youtube searches it started being promoted by youtube's algorithim which made the views shoot up. Its great to see my sub number increase so much though. I think growth will slow down now but i'll keep trying to make good content and who knows.
And I think blood and wine is well worth replaying, there's a lot of fun side quests and Toussaint is just a great region.
As for pathfinder kingmaker, i still haven't finished it either. The game is well over 100 hours even without the bugs that could potentially stop your progress that people say get worse the further you get. So i'm gonna take my time with the game and maybe make one or two other videos in the mean time.
Oh yeah, I had only noticed the view count on your P:K video after commenting here the YT algorithm gods were shining upon you but either way the more exposure you get the faster it should go so good luck.
Well since I turned the strategy part on P:K on automatic and started ignoring it due to a bug that basically fucked all the stats of my kingdom (too bad I really liked it) I have been progressing a lot faster, will still probably take a 65-80h in total.
Your last sentence made it seem like you are planning to make a full review on P:K is that right? I would love it at least.
Anyway have a nice day.
Yeah i'm planning to make a video on kingmaker but i'm going to take my time with the game so i'm not sure when it will be. Early November probably.
I just interpreted the Detlaff-Syanna-Regis thing like this:
- Regis is NOT very intelligent, though the game tries to tell you he is. He's sentimental, forgiving and idealistic. He keeps on pushing Geralt towards sparing/rescuing Detlaff, because he thinks he's been scammed. And he has, true, but Regis can't see that his friend is out of control, has already murdered many and the bodies will keep piling up - if not now, then later.
- Detlaff might be wise and smart, but it's irrelevant because he has no self control. He is acting extremely emotionally and impulsively towards everything. Find a girl? Cling to love as hard as you can. Girl in trouble? Do whatever it takes. Kill an innocent human? Grieve and hack off arm. Find out scam? Fly off the handle with rage. I figure the reason he left when he had Syanna in his hands was he was either trying to gather some control, or because he wanted to inflict guilt and/or terror on Syanna and the others.
Bottom line: The story tells you out loud that these guys are wise and/or smart, but the actual moral is that immortality doesn't actually make you wise.
I never felt sympathy towards Detlaff - he was obviously an out of control murderer to me - but I did for Regis. He was a naive moron, but he did at least try to reach for good. And he ended up having to kill his friend for it, because he didn't understand he needed to be stopped until it was too late.
I got the best ending. Killed Dettlaff and the duchess and her sister killing each other. Such a great DLC full of characters that you want dead.
Toussaint just felt like putting the World of Darkness Vampire setting into Bretonnia from Warhammer Fantasy.
A Master piece!! Like ALL The Witcher 3 is!! 🥰🥰🥰
i just hated the dlc.. i was overwhelmed by quests right away as in every area, but by now i learned that doing side quests and questionmarks is dangerous as i might accidentally skip something.. so i just did the story in blood and wine and left, didnt even explore the eastern side of toussaint
Phenomenal review, thank you.
I liked it more than the base game.
Turn of the minimap, god dang it?!? I even used a mod, that turns of quest markers in the menu on the world map.
Ain't Roach a type of fish? You say "hence the name roach" - maybe you meant the fish is insignificant, because the horses certainly aren't named after cockroaches.
The word for roach (the fish) in polish has a secondary meaning which is someone insignificant.
@@NeverKnowsBest Yeah, I got that part - I was referring specifically to the preceding portion on its own. I felt it unclear despite the addition of the secondary meaning in Polish - it felt like it were structured in two different thoughts.
Well the fact that Geralt names all his horses the same thing suggests they are interchangeable and that he doesn't care that much about them individually. I don't think the books outright say that but I think its implied that Geralt somewhat deliberately tries not to get very attached to them, which I always assumed was because he goes through lots of horses as a result of living a long time and doing a dangerous job.
Hey, I just recently discovered your channel, and I'm currently in kind of a hurry, but I hope to one day engage properly on the subject with someone who seems interested enough as well :) Anyway, a VERY tl;dr version is that my view is that Blood and Wine is very much thematically consistent with - of all things - Hearts of Stone. Both, when you boil it down to it, come down to mental illness and how we approach and/or treat it in regards to personal responsibility. Detlaff basically shows what would happen if a creature with the power of an in-setting vampire would get an extreme form of Borderline Personality Disorder + Bipolar and Narcissistic tendencies (very similar to Olgierd in that regard).
As I said, I'd REALLY love to write more on the subject but I'm in quite a rush currently so I hope that there's a Twitter or Discord or some other way to reach you if you're interested in some narrative theorycraft banter :)
Anyone else think Syanna just looks like a worst version of Yennefer?
The Witcher 3 was so-so good.
It got better for me... like a good wine
Polish equivalent of "roach" doesn't mean "an insignificant person". It's "Płotka", which simply is a species of fish. Somebody spread some bs to ya
Przeciez mowi sie plotka na kogos malo znaczacego
@@antonimysliborski3649 chyba na jakichś prowincjach XD
Pewnie o określeniu "gruba ryba" też nie słyszałeś XD
A problem with the Syanna critiques: yes she doesn't do anything to deserve redemption... but you don't have to give it to her, so it doesn't seem reasonable to act like she got undeserved forgiveness. That's all your doing! You might think you were forced into it because of what happens if you don't, but alas that's not fair. All of the conveniences pointed out for this ending were also intentionally unrealistic, I believe. I've read fan theories that CDPR just wanted this fairy tail ending as an option here even though it was not realistic, hence Syanna's dialogue if you pursue it "you really want a fairy tale ending...". If you think about it, they could have easily made Syana written as a forgivable character instead of a manipulative unjustified one. We can interpret it as them feeling Syanna was really evil but if you can't bare it they provided an out for fairy tale lovers. I think going to prison and having Dandelion save you from death row is the intended canon. So in a way the critiques were right on, it's just that CDPR knew and chose it anyway, for this special occasion and for the sake of certain fans.
Another great video, thanks :) Id love to know if you read your comments man, honestly many of your views are interesting and I agree with majority of them usually, however one mind can only see and notice so much, reading what others think and how they take it is a great way to see the story in a new light, or see small things you possibly missed.
Im curious as to how is it possible that your Witcher videos have fewer views than your other videos :(
Personally I think the story is mainly about acceptance, batteling ones demons or something along those lines, accepting your nature and your place in the world, if you cant - hatred, vengeance, pain and blood.
And yea, I liked the curse more as a unknown as well, I do not think however, that clasifying it as the game did, exludes it from being biological or of higher nature, it can still be both, we only really learned how it manifests in an individual, it doesnt apply equally to all, but yea, it could have been more impactful.
I do read them. Replying can take a long time though, so i don't usually reply unless someone asks a direct question.
I think the witcher videos have less views just because i made them earlier. My views are all over the place in general though because some videos get views from the algorithm recommending them, while others don't, and some get views from youtube searches and some don't.
Anyway, i'm glad you've been enjoying my videos, and i have been reading your comments.
My main problem with Blood and Wine was that the location was way too colourful for a Witcher game, and that i'm just not that interested in the whole vampires fantasy.
The only thing I disliked was that although I had been shouting to everyone "SYANNA WANTS TO KILL ANARIETTA", I've been ignored, that broad died and I turned out to be the one to blame.
.. its based upon the story about the lesser evil - syanna is kind of "Renfri" 2
...Yes, he even mentions it.
Not sure what's your point.
2:43 The video: talking about side quests and points of interest ...
Me: drink some goddamn golden oriole!
Honestly, I kinda regret not going for the neutral ending, I liked Detlaff more than Syanna
Who did not? I'd rather had killed the manipulating bitch than the blinded by love Detlaff.
Ugh, Dettlaff was an angsty 13 y/o boy who thinks the world should revolve around his tender little ego and Syanna was a spoiled brat who needed a punch in the face and someone to tell her to grow the f up. I spent the entire main plot dancing around their temper tantrums to protect my awesome friend Regis and the good-hearted, amusing Queen Henrietta. But whatever, crappy main plot be damned, I loved this DLC and in the end my friends were safe and Geralt got to semi-retire with Yennefer in the only upgradable game home I have ever enjoyed. I do wish they had explored the dichotomy between chivalric ideals and inevitable human behaviors more though.
i disagree with syanna not being sympathetic. why should she show regret for taking revenge? deceiving dettlaff to carry out her revenge was kinda a dick move, but the revenge against the knights is in itself well justified from her point of view. apart from being a dick towards dettlaff her only flaw is not realizing that anarietta should be forgiven for being spineless as a child.
If someone came and murdered your family then most people would blame the survivor for taking revenge. They don’t need to show guilt because the person deserved it.
The possible consequences of it aside guilt is not required here for it to be sympathetic and you hit the point exactly that her taking revenge is something we can already sympathise with and don’t need guilt. I think most would see guilt as a form of inconsistency in a character that was treated like shit for a long time because of a bullshit curse and hurt by these individuals. Why should she end up feeling guilty?
To be honest the dialouge that determine the ending is really stupid cause anna could explain everything to her sister also ask for forgiveness without geralt saying anything to anna sister. Hos dlc was better story
Lol I didn't even realize it was 3 days. I thought it was just later on that night
man it really felt like i did everything in Blood and Wine but you tellin me there was a quest where you talk to Roach? Where tf was this quest.
what is that beautiful green armour you have on?
3:32 How do you keep the camera still and distant like that during combat? What do you have to turn on or off/adjust in the settings?
I think its just using the whirl ability. I don't remember changing anything in the settings.
@@NeverKnowsBest Sometimes when I use the whirl the camera starts to face upwards and zooms into Geralt's back. Eh, I think it's unavoidable, thx anyway.