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Preparing for Wild Hunt - Short lore/story recap of The Witcher game series

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Dumb thing I made, pretty quick and dirty, for whoresons who'll be jumping into Wild Hunt as their very first The Witcher game.

Infographic covering the very basics of the politics, factions/groups, and what Geralt's journey is all about. If you're a new fan please give it a read, as it should update you on the core themes and Geralt's character, the stories, much of which will come to a conclusion in Wild Hunt.

If it doesn't deserve its own thread; bake him away, toys.

story_recap_witcher6wkfg.png
 

pakkit

Banned
Yesss. I recommend the books to anyone who has an interest in the lore. The fiction predates the games, and are really well written.
 

Tomodachi

Member
unfornate* case of amnesia

Great work though, I like the effort and it was a nice read even for someone who went through the games again recently to prepare for The Wild Hunt.
 
I think that infonographic would be more helpful with some of the story from the books, as in this game seems to be important. Ciri being the catalyst of everything and what not.
Apart from that, good for newcomers.

I didn't know The Witcher had gnomes...interesting.
There are gnomes but im pretty sure he was refering there to dwarves.
 

Sendou

Member
Is this the kind of game that tracks your choices from the previous games? More or less than in Mass Effect for example?
 
Is this the kind of game that tracks your choices from the previous games? More or less than in Mass Effect for example?
Yes, but not in the amount that mass effect did, at least for the witcher 1> witcher 2.
Still, Jaskier (dandelion) will act as a poet that narrates your past adventures, and geralt (the player), can say to him if its wron to change what it happened.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
unfornate* case of amnesia

fucking knew it goddamn

I think that infonographic would be more helpful with some of the story from the books, as in this game seems to be important. Ciri being the catalyst of everything and what not.

I was torn, because the info is important, but I also think CDPR do try to keep the games open to newcomers unfamiliar with the books. So I wanted to focus on the info as it's presented in the games, more retrospectively Geralt learning his past, rather than "this is Geralt's past as detailed by the books".

Is this the kind of game that tracks your choices from the previous games? More or less than in Mass Effect for example?

Yes, but not anywhere near as significant. W1 -> W2 import didn't amount to much other than a couple of cameos. No idea how significant a W2 -> W3 import will be.
 

GavinUK86

Member
There are some really great recap videos on YouTube too if anyone is feeling out of their depth:

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiqMr0OvQog
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSftIRQzYCM

I remember watching those videos a while ago, really good recap.

I was torn, because the info is important, but I also think CDPR do try to keep the games open to newcomers unfamiliar with the books. So I wanted to focus on the info as it's presented in the games, more retrospectively Geralt learning his past, rather than "this is Geralt's past as detailed by the books".

Yeah I don't think you need to include info from the books. They're kinda irrelevant to the larger story because I'm sure CDPR will tell you exactly what you need to know about Ciri in-game. I would recommend reading them though just because they're awesome.
 

foxtrot3d

Banned
I posted this in the other thread and thought I'd provide it here, my very brief recap of the two games:

The Witcher 1: Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher (part of an dying order of mutated monster slayers) wakes up without any of his memory outside the stronghold of the Witchers. While he is being taken care of the stronghold is attacked by some mystery cult/crime syndicate and some Witchers die. Afterwards they all agree to investigate the cult and figure out why the fuck they were attacked and split up to do so. LONG, LONG story short, it turns out it was all the masterplan of the "insane" leader of the Order of the Flaming Rose, a highly respected knightly order that often clashes with non-humans (elves, dwarves, etc.). See the leader believed that the end of the world was nigh upon us all and would cover the world in ice and death and something about the Wild Hunt. Geralt kills the dude and chalks it up to the dude being crazy. In doing so he saves the city of Vizima and once again is in the debt and good graces of King Foltest.

The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings: Geralt now works essentially as a bodyguard for King Foltest, at the end of TW1 the king was almost assassinated by a mystery dude who Geralt believes was a Witcher, though he keeps the info to himself. Foltest is currently waging a civil war to claim his bastard children and Geralt aides him stating that after the battle is done he plans to leave his service. Well, things don't go as planned. They win the battle, but as Foltest is reunited with his children, a big muscular Witcher disguised as a priest assassinates the King and hops out a window. Naturally, Geralt is the prime suspect in the murder and is imprisoned. So begins a long adventure in which Geralt must clear his name and uncover the mystery of the assassins of Kings.

LONG story short, at the end of everything you discover various plots within plots between the various Kings of the Northern Realms and an attempt by the Sorcerers to re-institute The Lodge, basically a magical school and Order that once held powerful sway at Court. But, the real master genius behind it all is the Emperor of Nilfgaard Emhyr (Charles Dance in those trailers you've maybe seen). See it turns out you knew that Witcher who assassinated Foltest and later several other Northern Kings, basically thanks to your shenanigans and what not before your memory loss, he and his band of Witchers got caught in Nilfgaard. The Emperor valuing their skills offered them a mission, go to the Northern Realms and spread chaos through assassination and other means to make the North ripe for invasion. In return the Emperor would restore The Witcher schools in the South (remember they are a dying order). You are told all this in the end by Letho, the big Witcher who assassinated Foltest, and you can choose to fight him or just let him go. At the same time you are told all of this Geralt regains the remaining forgotten parts of his memory and remembers that he was taken by the Wild Hunt, in exchange of the safety of the love of his life Yennefer, leading to his memory loss.

The twist reveal ending is nice because we are trained to always have final physical battle at the end of a game and yet here you can just let the "bad guy" go. Yet, after all the reveals it's not really sure that Letho is a bad guy. Geralt is a Witcher and he has no real loyalty to the Northern Realms or Kings, in fact the game shows you that most of the Kings are complete assholes. Plus, the fact that the Emperor of Nilfgaard seeks to restore the Witcher schools is a benefit to you. It all depends on your view point, no good choice or bad choice. Anywho, at the very end we see a cutscene showing the beginning of Nilfgaard invading the North.
 

RK9039

Member
Very nice idea.

I've only played part two and read about The Witcher 1, plus I did some reading about the books. Basically The Witcher 3 is about Space Elves and a young girl, now young woman, who is like Matilda.

I'm pretty sure the choices you make from W2 -> W3 are supposed to be a lot more significant this time.
I remember people saying they spotted Letho in one of the trailers so... and I left the guy alive in my game
.

Also someone from CDProject mentioned that somewhere in the beginning of W3 you'll be remembering the decisions you made in W2 through dialogue options, this was done so that you don't have to import your save files.
 

Kater

Banned
Oh, very useful. Thanks for making this. :)

They're rather uncommon. Witcher 1 has some quests with background/info on gnomes. Don't recall anything on them in 2.

I think you can even see them in the game, no? I think I saw them when I watched an LP of Witcher 1 in some catacomb. Tiny people who danced and laughed.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I'm pretty sure the choices you make from W2 -> W3 are supposed to be a lot more significant this time.
I remember people saying they spotted Letho in one of the trailers so... and I left the guy alive in my game
.

Cameos would be great. I want to see Iorveth, Roache, and Saskia.
 

aravuus

Member
I'm pretty sure the choices you make from W2 -> W3 are supposed to be a lot more significant this time.
I remember people saying they spotted Letho in one of the trailers so... and I left the guy alive in my game
.

Hope you're right.
Letho
was an amazing, amazing character and I would LOVE to see more of him.
 

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member
Excellent! I played half of Witcher 1 and half of Witcher 2, so this will help fill in the gaps nicely.

Hopefully I end up playing more than half of Witcher 3.
 

RK9039

Member
Cameos would be great. I want to see Iorveth, Roache, and Saskia.

Same here, the cast of the W2 was great and it would be nice to see how some of them ended up.

I want to know what happened to that sorceress, Philippa, who had her eyes put out and flies away after Geralt and Iorveth save her or that other lady that almost exploded when she tried to teleport somewhere.

Hope you're right.
Letho
was an amazing, amazing character and I would LOVE to see more of him.

I just couldn't find a good reason to kill him at the end, after all that happened it didn't seem worth it. Plus he shares his drink with Geralt.
 

Lingitiz

Member
I just couldn't find a good reason to kill him at the end, after all that happened it didn't seem worth it. Plus he shares his drink with Geralt.

Yeah IMO it felt out of character for Geralt to kill him since he was actually did stuff to help him and his ultimate goal was looking out for all Witchers.
 

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Awesome job. Thank you.


Really hoping the Witcher 3 does a decent job of explaining the situation to new players.


All of my friends who are getting the game have never played or really even seen anything Witcher related. I hope CDPR really went through good lengths to make it accessible.


I played through most of TW1 and am probably half way through TW2 right now.(Also just started the books), and I still have no idea what is being talked about or who is talking about it in the Sword of Destiny trailer. So I can't imagine how confusing it will be for newcomers if they don't ease players into the world.


I think re-branding the game as The Wicher: Wild Hunt, instead of The Witcher 3 was a great move. I just hope it was more than a move to make people looking at boxart and trailers buy the game.
 

aravuus

Member
I just couldn't find a good reason to kill him at the end, after all that happened it didn't seem worth it. Plus he shares his drink with Geralt.

Oh yeah, sure. Like Lingitiz said, killing him would have felt too out of character for Geralt.
 

Odah

Banned
If I read this, do I have to play Witcher 1+2 to play 3 or can I skip them after that?

edit: nvm

THANK YOU OP I LUV U <3

you are sparing me alot of work. now i think i can enjoy the witcher 3 like everyone else :)
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
The conundrum with Letho comes down to how much judgement you want to pass.

Yes, he's been manipulating sorceresses and murdering royalty to prime the North for an invasion by Nilfgaard that's going to be bloody.

But at the same time he let Geralt live, and in Geralt's absence looked after Yennefer, who did nothing but continually get him and his fellow Witchers into shit while also trying to break them apart. In fact, the only reason he ended up speaking to the Empire was because he was caught by Nilfgaard as they region hopped. Again, protecting Yennefer. And if you chose to save Philippa he goes and saves Triss from the Nilfgaardians.

Why should Geralt give two fucks about the Northern Kingdoms anyway? Each and every king is still a cunt.
 

Braag

Member
I replayed TW2 november last year I think. I finished TW1 back when it was still new (2007) and once more right before TW2. I couldn't bring myself to replay it for the third time, it's a long ass game.
But that's a nice recap for people who haven't played the games and covers the most important parts.
 

KorrZ

Member
Great job EatChildren. This was a really good succinct recap of some of the major story beats (I haven't played 1 but everything you wrote about 2 was nice and to the point).

This should probably be included in the OT for newcomers who happen to miss this thread.
 
I will add a few more details for new players, to establish expectations and set the tone:

-No, you don't need to play The Witcher 1 or The Witcher 2 to play this game. This isn't Mass Effect 3 where the point of the game is to finish the story of the previous two parts. TW1 had a separate story, TW2 had another separate story. The only thing you need to know is that a Southern Empire has invaded the place where the stories always occur in the games and books, the Northern Kingdoms. Geralt himself is usually politically neutral, he doesn't care if king A or king B rules, so this isn't even very important for him.

-No, you don't need to know who the heck are some characters called "Ciri" or "Yennefer". Her screen times in Witcher 1 and Witcher 2 are.. zero. So you will be in the same conditions as other players.

-The Witcher games have a strong focus on story, so even if this sequel is open world, don't expect something like Skyrim which has a plot but lots of people play it living random adventures as they explore. Even if they have done the exploration well in the game, a good part of what makes the game will be the story and writing in general.

-The main character, Geralt of Rivia, is a character with an established name, an established profession and even a somewhat predetermined personality, so don't expect a game where you can choose if being a great asshole or a super paladin, or choosing between being a sneaky thief, an archmage in a tower or a warrior that is also a vampire. Yes, you can level up the skill tree in magic, sword or alchemy but you will be still a witcher, a skilled swordman who crafts potions and use some magic here and there.

-You may heard Geralt is a mutant. Though basically human, witchers are manipulated with secret formulas as a child to give them their enhanced physical prowess and general aptitudes to do their profession, a monster hunter for hire.
Said mutations leave them sterile, which is an important point to make as in this game will establish Geralt's relation with a "foster daughter" figure.

-Being in medieval times the general populace isn't very kind and open minded, so they call witchers "mutants" and "freaks" and other not so nice names. They are disliked in general, though they are tolerated because their utility for society as monster hunters.
Book Note: in the books this point is even more marked, in the video games is there but just for a bit of flavor.

-In fact this isn't a "heroic fantasy" setting, but a "low fantasy" setting, where life is cheap, people are poor, ignorance and hatred rules, etc.
Book note: In fact the first two books are all about the idea of taking usual situations of fairy tales and give them a "realistic" twist showing how different things would be if the setting and tone would be more like real life. Which reminds me, in the books Geralt is poor, his "Roach" is usually a cheap used horse or a mule, he is more really a traveling hobo working here and there.

-Monster hunting. Killing an important monster isn't supposed to be straightforward. Witchers study their prey, they research about their behavior and weakness, and prepare for the combat crafting and drinking the right potions. Book note: witchers use barely the most basic magic in the books, in the other hand they are supposed to be good alchemists, this is proved in the creation of witchers themselves with special potions, and in the preparation of their potions for combat or other uses.
But be careful, you receiving a contract to killing monster X doesn't mean X is really a monster. There will be times the "monster" is a sentient creature, so maybe you can negotiate with it.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
-The Witcher games have a strong focus on story, so even if this sequel is open world, don't expect something like Skyrim which has a plot but lots of people play it living random adventures as they explore. Even if they have done the exploration well in the game, a good part of what makes the game will be the story and writing in general.

In addition to this, CDPR have stated they wanted to try and curb "do every side quest before main quest" behaviour, despite their abundance, by having mixed levelling/difficulty. So folk shouldn't be afraid to dig into the main quest. A lot of stuff wont be possible until you're high levelled, and like GTA/other open world games there's post-campaign play to clear up other quests too.
 

aravuus

Member
-In fact this isn't a "heroic fantasy" setting, but a "low fantasy" setting, where life is cheap, people are poor, ignorance and hatred rules, etc.

Wouldn't the correct term be something like dark fantasy? Magic plays a big part in the world of Witcher and there are tons of fantastical creatures around and so on.
 
Wouldn't the correct term be something like dark fantasy? Magic plays a big part in the world of Witcher and there are tons of fantastical creatures around and so on.

Yeah, I was about to write "dark fantasy" but I'm not sure if that's the correct label here. As you say "low fantasy" isn't 100% appropriate, I think the same happens with "dark fantasy". Still, I suppose both are closer than "heroic fantasy" which was my point :p.
 

aravuus

Member
Yeah, I was about to write "dark fantasy" but I'm not sure if that's the correct label here. As you say "low fantasy" isn't 100% appropriate, I think the same happens with "dark fantasy". Still, I suppose both are closer than "heroic fantasy" which was my point :p.

Yeah, I suppose it's not very clear cut
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Uh... that is the shortest recap ever.

:|

Tis. There's a tooooon of stuff that could go into a recap, but I'm not sure much is relevant to the core themes of Wild Hunt. I wanted to keep it very simple and concise for newbies.

I was going to reserve a box for Phillipa's lesbomancy, but I'll save that for another time.
 

tioslash

Member
Many thanks OP! I´ve finished both games some time ago and I don´t remember specific details, but you made a nice summary of the most important topics before diving into TW3.

:)
 
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