Sunny Toussaint

Summer is almost upon us.  For me, and the millions of teachers out there, this is a magical time.  The long awaited break from the chaos is now within reach (and possibly already here for many).  On a gaming front, this is a time where I try to figure out where I want to spend my time adventuring.  I've been restlessly hopping from one game to the next and haven't really been able to settle on one.  Fortunately the last expansion for The Witcher 3, was released this week and has sucked me right back into the world of monster slaying and Gwent playing.  Blood and Wine looks to be the solution to my gaming unease and I'm enjoying being back in the gorgeous world of The Witcher.

Toussaint is a nice visual change from the other zones.

Blood and Wine adds a brand new zone to the already massive world of The Witcher 3.  Toussaint is a region that seems to be inspired by a combination of Italy and France.  Vineyards filled with laboring peasants dot the landscape and knights errant wander the countryside searching for noble quests to undertake.  There's a hint of humor at the concept of these almost cheesy knights with their overly flowery speech and damsel saving.  Toussaint is a fairy tale kingdom nestled into the corner of a dreary, war-torn world...it's a huge change from the familiar zones.  Geralt meets two puffed up knights in Velen who are "saving" some peasants from a gang of bandits.  After fighting off the rabble and listening to an extremely drawn out formal request for help, the knights set off for Toussaint.  As the small party rides into this new zone I was immediately impressed by the blue skies and verdant, green landscape.  No depressing, creepy swamps to trek through!  Yes!

Unfortunately, I haven't really had a lot of time to dedicate to Blood and Wine.  I've barely dipped my toes into the new world but am extremely excited to be playing one of my favorite games.  Even without fully experiencing everything that Blood and Wine has to offer I can tell you that spending the cash for this expansion will be worth it.  This isn't your traditional "2 hours of extra gameplay!  Some new outfits!" DLC....  Toussaint is filled with new locations to explore and old pastimes to take up--namely lots of monster slaying and gwent playing.

Here are some of the highlights that I have experienced so far.  I will try to avoid any major spoilers!

New Monsters--Alright, some of them aren't totally new.  Players of the earlier games in the series will recognize some familiar fangs and feelers....  Remember those devilish plants, the archespores, from The Witcher?  They're back and they are some tricky little buggers.  Beside shooting projectiles at you, now they also sprout blooms that blow up if you move too close to them.  I would advise maneuvering carefully and hacking down the blooms whenever possible.  Players will also recognize the familiar demon hounds, barghests, which we gleefully slew in droves while freeing the outskirts of Vizimia from the clutches of the infamous Beast (or the evil of man).  There are also some rightly new monsters like scurvers which seem to be the new and improved version of rotfiends.

Old Friends--No expansion would be complete without the reappearance of a favorite from a previous game or, in this case, novel.  Fans of the novel will recognize one of the major characters from the books as one of the central characters of the main questline that is part of the DLC.  I won't give it away, but let's just say that this person's reappearance will come as a bit of a shock to anyone who has read all the books in the series (which, sadly, I have not.  The last book still has to be translated into English.).  Needless to say, this character is a good one regardless of your knowledge of the novels.

New Gwent!  Because you can never get enough gwent.  One of the very first quests I stumbled upon was an introduction to a brand new gwent deck--Skellige.  The Skellige deck is fun to play and depending on your draw, can be really overpowering.  One of the most powerful cards in the deck is Cerys an Craite.  Cerys is a hero card with the muster ability.  The best part is that her muster ability calls forth cards that have a cooperative bonus and their attack power is tripled (once you've won all the shield maiden cards that is).  Another unique ability of the deck is the ability to play berserkers which, on their own, are pretty weak.  However, players can play a Mardroeme card which will morph those berserkers into powerful bears which greatly increases their attack power.  The deck also adds a powerful new weather card, Skellige Storm, that combines both the ranged and siege blocking abilities of impenetrable fog and torrential rain.  While playing this deck is a joy, countering it is a pain.  I would recommend scorch and cards like Villentretenmeth to counter Cerys's OP-ness.  There's also another gwent tournament to enter and win.

Player Housing--This is a bit of a spoiler...sorry.  After completing a few early quests in the main questline you will earn the deed to Geralt's very own estate and vineyard.  It's a little ramshackle, but with lots of coin and some TLC players can re-hab this broken down house into a gorgeous villa and farm with a myriad of items to give it that special witcher-y touch.  Have you always wanted a special place to display your beautiful armors and weapons?  Well, now you have that.  There's something fun about imagining your character settling down into the home you've made for them.  I can fully imagine Geralt and Triss settling down into this happy little home.

Even if you don't invest in the Blood and Wine expansion there have been some great changes to the UI for the base game.  I immediately noticed the much more organized inventory screen that breaks items into much easier to find categories.  Attacking on horseback has also gotten much easier with the addition of slow motion attacks--no more whiffing while on horseback.

I'm going to be investing much more time into Geralt's adventures in Toussaint and fully enjoy it.  The Witcher 3 looks to be the final entry in the Witcher series and I am saddened that I won't get to have any more adventures with Geralt, Ciri, Dandelion, Zoltan, Triss, Yen, and the rest of the cast of unique characters of that world.

Now, back to slaying!