Skellige Magic

Unsurprisingly, I'm still guiding our trusty witcher, Geralt of Rivia, through his adventures in the world of The Witcher 3.  Every playthrough offers the opportunity to make different decisions and see exactly how they play out.  Since I've played through it so many times, I'm also on the prowl for anything that I missed previously.  The weird thing is that I can usually find something that I missed.  Dedicating my time to TW3 means I've had time to think about some of the different aspects of the game.

But first....some exciting non-TW3 news.  The spiritual successor to one of my favorite childhood games (Theme Hospital) has finally announced a release date!  Two Point Hospital will release on August 30th and can be pre-ordered from Steam for 10% off.  I know that pre-ordering is the devil...but I don't think I can resist on this one.  It's priced at $34.99, which is a nice change from the $59.99 of triple AAA titles.

Just look at all those ? in the water....ugh.

Back to TW3--I've progressed Geralt's story to the islands of Skellige.  Skellige is my favorite (and also least favorite...) zone in the game.  I like the story of the viking-inspired culture and clans that populate the islands.  Visually, it's also one of the prettiest zones in the game--tall mountains, dark forests, and lots of open water.  The part that I dislike the most about Skellige is the annoying enemies--namely the flying ones.  As much as I would love to have Geralt spend time sailing around the islands and unearthing all the treasures, I abhor trying to fight off all the stupid sirens.  You can try to fight them on your boat, but it's nearly impossible, or you can opt to dive into the water and pick them off with your crossbow.  Either way, there's a lot of question marks on that dang Skellige map and I don't have the patience to fight off the hordes of flying terrors.  Sadly, the smugglers caches tend to have some very decent loot in them--especially the greater runes.

As I've progressed through the Skellige story line I was faced with one of the major decisions that takes place in that particular zone--who should lead Skellige after the death of King Bran?  The two candidates, Cerys and Hjalmar an Craite, present the possibility of very different styles of rule.  Hjalmar is the kind of hero that they love on Skellige--bold, impulsive, and always looking for another fight or adventure.  His quest line sees Geralt travelling to the island of Undvik which has been deserted due to the fact that a very fierce ice giant appeared and started slaying the residents.  As you search the island to find Hjalmar (and eventually the giant), the story if the expedition unfolds.  Hjalmar's crew has gradually been whittled down by the monstrous hazards of the island--sirens mostly--and by his poor leadership.  By the time you reach the village of Dorve and find Hjalmar, his crew is completely gone (depending on your exploration and choices you could have possibly rescued the archer, Folan, from the clutches of some trolls who love making human soup).  You help Hjalmar fight off the remaining sirens and he leads you to the cave with the giant.  It's here that you find another member of his crew who has been captured by the giant--Vigi the Loon--and can choose to free him or let him stay in his cage (and die...).  You help Hjalmar slay the giant and complete his goal of completing a feat worthy of becoming king.  After it was finished, I started thinking on Hjalmar's quest and his ability to lead.

Team Cerys!

I rarely pick Hjalmar to lead Skellige--of all the times that I've played through TW3 I think I've picked him once.  I've always thought that his style of leadership seems reckless.  On Undvik he blindly charges ahead time after time and leaves the bodies of his own crew in his wake.  It's true that he slays the ice giant and accomplishes what he set out to, but at a too high cost--he gets almost his entire crew killed.  But, when I really think about it, isn't that exactly what the culture and people of Skellige would want?  Every part of their culture revolves around acts of bravery, sacrifice, and battle--so, in a way, Hjalmar is perfect.  They are more than willing to die in a bloodbath as long as they're having another great adventure.

Cerys, on the other hand, is nothing like Hjalmar in her actions.  Rather than being impulsive, she prefers to think about her actions and plan for the best course.  In dealing with Udalryk on Spikeroog, she comes up with a plan to deal with the creature that is terrorizing him.  Her plan is completely devious and shocked me the first time I saw it--but it's also a genius way to resolve the matter of the Hym.  Cerys is the non-traditional choice for Skellige in ways other than her gender and that's why I usually pick her.  Rather than charge blindly ahead, she is the type of leader who wants to plan for the future and see Skellige united into one powerful political unit.  I've always thought she would be the preferable choice when dealing with the threat of Nilfgaard.

Another of the daunting choices I've had to make is the type of armor that I should pursue.  I prefer medium armor for its range of utility--it provides moderate protection and also allows for stamina regeneration.  There happens to be two sets of medium armor in the game--wolven and griffin armors.  The two sets are geared toward slightly different playstyles--griffin armor has stats that support using signs and the wolven set gives a boost to attack power.  Aesthetically, I tend to find the wolven set to be more attractive (even though the short jacket bothers me).  Statistically I've opted for the griffin armor--I think the boost to signs is more important than the boost to attack power.  As I was gathering the diagrams to upgrade the griffin set I (think?) noticed that the superior set has been altered and actually looks pretty awesome.

So pretty!

I like the new look of the superior Griffin set.

Last week I wrote about my indecisiveness regarding Geralt's romantic options--something which always seems very silly, but which I inevitable end up thinking way too hard about--and decided to opt for Yennefer.  I also stumbled across another detailed debate about which sorceress Geralt should woo.  Readers of the short stories (which I would recommend fans of the series should read--but I would forewarn that they aren't easy to read--they tend to have long plodding political plots that are intermittently woven with the more interesting stories of Geralt & Co.) should realize that there really isn't a "perfect" choice for poor Geralt.  Yennefer is prickly, demanding, and seems to mostly see Geralt as a tool to accomplish her own goals.  It's funny to me that several characters in the game bring this point up (Cerys does it very pointedly) and Geralt seems to shake them all off and retain his (seemingly) blind allegiance to Yen.  Triss, on the other hand, is a much more likeable character in the games.  I've always found it interesting the way that her character changed over the course of the three games.  In the first game she's much more...pushy--almost to the point of being overbearing.  I guess that in TW2 they decided to soften her up and make her a more desirable option for Geralt.  In the short stories Triss is almost obsessed with Geralt--she pursues him despite the fact that she's made it completely clear that he's not interested and that he's obviously tied to Yen.  She does take advantage of his amnesia to cultivate a relationship--something that is dealt with in an offhanded way throughout the games.

I think the sorceress dilemma is another example of how the world of The Witcher is filled with flawed and intriguing characters.  No one is perfect and there are no perfect choices.  This dynamic works amazingly to create and engrossing game world.