Witcher Sage [Part 4] Assassins of Kings

[@tomjones8859]

I really enjoy this game. Out of all the games (not including expansions) this one is 3rd place but it and Witcher 1 are pretty neck and neck in terms of how much I like them, although for different reasons. I love how much the politics of the Witcher world are examined and it's one of my favorited things in the series. While I'll miss Geralt's more ugly face which I think is more book accurate, I kinda get why it was changed. I think though it makes him being considered a "freak" less relevant as because... well... he be sexy now. Regardless I enjoy it's more complex examination of the lore as well and really liked jumping between multiple characters to get a more full understanding of what's going on and wish they kept this for the W3 as I think it allows them to tell a more complex narrative without Geralt always need to be caught up on what everyone else is doing.
The choice to open on the Witcher 1 ending was mainly due to it keeping the story more in focused the King Slayer's rather than splitting it. It also makes it fun with it passing into Witcher 3 leading to this one showing off all the graphical changes throughout the trilogy.
I decided to put in the trailer (00:08:20) which establishes the main kingdoms as with such a heavy focus on politics and geopolitics and setting up some elements of the plot such as how the boarders will change by the end of the game. This also seemed like the best opportunity to insert this as it explains a little more about what's going on before getting into the thick of the battle.
The reason I went Scoia'tael came down basically to two reasons. First is that Geralt takes the path of least resistance. He doesn't care about the cause, or at least won't take a stand on it, and instead it's because they will go to Aedirn now rather than wrapping things up locally first. Second is that it puts Geralt a little more on the "good guy" side which is nice for the protagonist as he's protecting this new society rather than helping crush it. Lastly is that I feel like out of the two options this one is better for a single playthrough and helps more with the next game as Philipa gets a lot of attention as well as the Lodge of Sorceresses.
Fun fact: On the Roach path in Chapter 1 we actually here the month the end of the chapter is set in. It's Lammas which covers August and half of September. Geralt does say it's been half a year since W1 started which doesn't work if W1 is supposed to begin in 1270. On the Kingslayer wiki it says W1 ends in November of 1270 while W2 begins in April but this doesn't like up however until I played that section after my recording to get Henselt's footage for Chapter 2 and noticed the dialogue. All I could really do would be saying that W1 has either longer jumps between chapters such as between 1 and 2, as well as 2 to 3. This isn't the only timeline issue, like this game confirming it's set 6 years after 1268 but the year is 1271 while Roach says 1268 was 5 years ago. CDPR seems to be bad at maths.
I believe that at 05:32:47 the comet in the sky is actually the Wild Hunt. This is because in the books, like in Lady of the Lake a comet appears in the sky visible from Temeria or Redania all the way down to Nilfgaard and in the North they believe it to be the Wild Hunt. It could just be a comet but it's visible all through chapter 2 and 3 just like how the one in the books lingered in the sky for a week or more (I can't exactly remember).
Roach is such a bro. I love him and how he kinda just gets Geralt. It was also great seeing Siegfried again and hearing all his plans. I do find it odd that after being given their own land Radovid dismantled them and replaced them with the less well equip and less well trained Witcher Hunters leading to him losings the whole military arm of a huge religion to be replaced by hunters who wouldn't really fight on the front line. I've head cannoned that the reason for this is because Siegfried wouldn't let the order be used to hunt innocent people and so, proving to be a threat, he dismantled them and now the Grand Master is forming a behind the lines gorilla fight against the Witch Hunters and Redanina Army, but that's just my fan theory with no evidence behind it.
The reason for putting Ciri's story at the end was mainly to hype up W3 however I do think it highlights how W2 into W3 doesn't flow as nicely into each other compared to W1 and W2. Geralt and Triss set off for the capital city of Nilfgaard only for about a month later the two of them to have split up while Geralt hunts monsters in Temeria with Vesimir until about 6 months later when Yen contacts Geralt to meet in Willoughby (which might have been the Outskirts from W1). Why did Geralt travel west instead of south? No idea. War didn't stop him last time but this time he just took a major hiatus and I'm not sure why...
Anyway, onto the final game, and it's looking like a long video. Might even have to be a two partter!