Blood and Wine Discussion

@pyrodactyl: I do think they made a step up on the cinematography I guess you would say. There are some really cool long distance shots and like you mention definite composition.

I loved the vibe of the regular game but the brighter world in Blood and Wine was fantastic too.

For that factor it was probably second best in the game next to the Ladies of the Wood.

@dudeglove: I'm really in agreement with you on your points but to me it's really a time and content issue only. I trust CDPR a lot after Witcher 2 and 3 and I think they had grand ambitions hear and really nailed it if not fully developed it how you would a full game... certainly understandable. Witcher 3 proper was so massive.

All the characters could have used more time and maybe with more time I could feel sympathy for Syanna like it seems to me was intended but as is it was all a little more black and white, cut and dry. Really, it reminds me a bit more of all other RPGs in the market in content level and time spent with your characters developing them which makes it less than Witcher 3 proper but still great.

I loved it but you can see the seams a bit on it all. Just really because Witcher 3 set such a high bar. But the content is great and I think the new progression elements also add a lot to the game package since by the end the progression in Witcher 3 really becomes unrewarding IMO. I think the progression of your character was the game's biggest flaw but the DLCs did a lot to address that for me.

I loved coming back to this game for another 70 hours with the DLC. I feel a little sad now thinking about it being over.

@artisanbreads: Can't even recall specifics anymore, other than it being one among a throng of absolutely masterful quests.

@artisanbreads: I definetly agree with you about Syanna. It really felt like I was supposed to sympatize with her (especially since the "best" ending requires her surviving and apparently getting off scot free (which I actually think is kind of crappy)). As others have mentioned they did such a better job of that with Olgierd, but I also found Detlaff to be a pretty sympatetich character so even within the DLC I felt like they did a better job.

Yeah I think that's a terrible. I'll happily take my "bad" ending she got what she deserved after she got all those people in the city murdered, never mind all the people that would've ended up getting killed or just killed herself when she tried to take over.

Detlaff is more sympathetic yeah but to me he was just too dangerous to be able to be manipulated so easily. I think his character is developed in a better way but ultimately to me it is basically established he is a monster and has a weird relationship with humans. Where Regis operates alongside mortals Detlaff was always feeling a step above and so he could go too far. He basically just uses all the people of Beaclair as hostages and then executes them to suit his needs which won't fly with me.

The hints of vampire society and relationships was interesting. Shades of Vampire: The Masquerade.

Ultimately all the murders are terrible and horrifying until its her sister (who yes happens to be cursed but then again so was Detlaff and a number of other monsters in the series) then it's just okay. It's hypocrisy. I'll take my bad ending and justice.

So having played Blood and Wine you learn alot more about higher vampires and how they can only be truly killed by another higher vampire. So retroactively does that mean that the higher vampire that you fight in the carnal sins quest (the serial killer one) did not really die ? Or that he could still potentially regenerate with the help of another higher vampire? I'm pretty sure Geralt identifys him as a higher vampire. Or do you think this was just an unfortunate plothole created by CDR by waiting until Blood and Wine to fully flesh out the lore behind higher vampires?

Or the one Eskel was dissecting at Kaer Morhen.

@rubberbabybuggybumpers: @seventytwotransformations:

The one Eskel was dissecting wasnt an higher Vampire but yeh i would say the higher vampire in Cardinal Sins was a bummer from the start and even before blood and wine.

From what i gathered it seemed like regeneration aint easy and takes time and effort if you did the killing properly, maybe he will eventually emerge as a new vampire with new agendas or maybe he will continue his holy work after Geralt and everyone he knows has long perished.

I dunno where CDPR was going with that one, apart from the supposedly immortal and super strong being that really was a weakling that whole questline reeks of obvious plotholes. Im glad they returned and gave the higher vampires justice in this DLC.

@rethla: Maybe he did come back. After "killing" him, those pamphlets are spotted all over Novigrad. I never saw them dropped everywhere during that particular quest line.

@rethla: @rubberbabybuggybumpers:I dunno, you guys. Those pamphlets kept popping up, even after I killed the guy.

Either way, it'd take that higher vampire quite a while to reconstitute his senses after getting the crap beaten out of him. Regis needed years to regenerate from a pile of goo, right?

@dudeglove: I loved the hood. Reminded me of the cool hooded armors from 2. Only issue with it was occasional poses in cutscenes would have some clipping but it was mostly great.

@dudeglove: You can make the hood go down if you wear a mask or the glasses you win at the auction in HoS.

@dudeglove: Yea but why would you be wearing anything but the Manticore set anyway?

@dudeglove: Matincore is light though.

Reading about the different endings after beating it I'm perfectly happy with having gotten the "worst" ending. The other ones just don't really make sense to me with how those characters are written for the rest of the DLC. In the end Syanna was still evil and Anarietta was too trusting of her sister.

@dudeglove: Then you get the runeswrithing that makes all your armor behave like light armor ;)

@ivdamke: Because the utterly cool and somewhat pretentious wolf armor looked awesome.

@rahf: I agree that the wolf armour looks awesome but i cannot stand Geralt's chin clipping through the collar whenever he turns his head so i stick with manticore or viper eventhough i don't get any bonuses from it.

It's like pubic hair. Eventually you get over the itching from a mowed lawn, or you walk around with the full rug.

Anybody have any issues with crashes on PS4? Been playing about 4 hours now and had 3 crashes back to the ps4 dash.

Finally finished the main story of this DLC this week. Absolutely loved it. I struggle to call it better than Heart of Stone because both are just flat out fantastic as far as characters and narrative goes. There's some cooler action in Blood and Wine that's for damn sure and the title becomes even more evocative after playing through it. I'll probably have to reload my older save to see what happens with the Unseen One path near the end unless it's not worth seeing. I still have my reservations about this game's RPG and fight mechanics but as far as being a story driven adventure game it's one of, if not my favorite of all time.