Finished it... (Spoilers abound!)

[Prime Junta]

Well, I wondered how come that Act III never seemed to end -- it seems there were no chapter panes to introduce acts IV through VI.

So I finished.

Whoo.

What an awesome finish, too -- satisfying, exciting, narratively great, with just enough loose ends left untied -- not to mention a great teaser -- to make for a sequel. The fights were a trifle easy, though -- next time, I'll go with Hard.

The only problem is that this makes just about every (current) game out there look pretty damn unimaginative and boring.

[HiddenX]

Ending speculations / open questions / my ending (big spoilers!)

Grandmaster = Alvin ? -> I think so.
Attack on the king -> maybe another "forgotten" witcher school ?

Great open ending - I think there will be an addon/sequel, because the map of my collectors edition has a backside ("The Empire of Nilfgaard") :)

My ending:
Friend of Shani
Defeated The Hunt of the Wild and the Grandmaster
Friend of Elves and Dwarfes
King of Dice Poker
Knight of the Lady of the Lake
Best boxer of the world
Wearer of Raven's armor
Rescued Princess Adda and Abigail

[Prime Junta]

Was there a list somewhere you could see these?


Grandmaster = Alvin -- yep, that was pretty heavily hinted. There was the pendant, and he said something that sounded a lot like something I told Alvin in a tense moment. Pity, that. Poor Alvin...

Attack on the King -- could be, but I don't think so. He was clearly a mutant and carried potions, but his fighting technique was very different -- dual-wielding two short swords rather than using a two-hander. He also didn't use any Signs. IOW, looked much like the mutant assassins in Chapter V, only not quite so mutated.


My list would've been slightly different:


I was neutral, and a friend of Triss ("just friend" though). Does "friend of the night wraith" count?

[HiddenX]

It's my list - I think there's no list of finished quests in the game.

Night Wraith ??? - is this the nice Vampire Lady of the brothel or someone else ? - I have played this game in german, unfortunately many characters have different names

[Prime Junta]

Nope, she's Celina the sister of the Noonday Bride. Perhaps you didn't get/do that quest? If not, pity, because IMO it's the best side quest in the game.

[Prime Junta]

BTW, there is a list of finished quests in the game -- just go to the Quests tab in the journal and un-check "show ongoing quests only" (or whatever it's called).

But that's a very long list.

[HiddenX]

I only helped the bride by restoring the mirror and singing(?) something :-) I could not help her sister because I chosed to get my own house from the druid. -> something for the second run.

[KazikluBey]

A truly a satisfying ending.

Ending up having taught the arch villain his moral values like that was definitely a unique twist, not anything I've seen before.

[elkston]

How were you able to rescue Adda?

I had to kill her in the Swamp Cemetary


EDIT: Nevermind, I found out elsewhere. I guess I'll have to do things differently next time I play.

[magerette]

Have to say that was one of the more serious endings I've experienced.
Hard to be cursed out for being neutral and trying to stay out of everyone else's madness, but the points about death following in your wake were pretty indisputable. And the assassin is definitely a better cliffhanger than having the roof fall in on you
a la NWN2
Next time I'm going the elf-hugger route, as long as I can keep Triss.

[Foss]

So I assume there are several end movies?

I assume the appearance of Alvin as the Grandmaster is another ending from the attack on the King by another Witcher?
Since I had heard before about Alvin before I finished the game, so I was surprised not to see him.

[magerette]

My experience:
(Neutral ending)--Alvin appears briefly on the long fight up the icy slope, as himself. Geralt tells Triss he's just an illusion. Also at one point in this progress upwards,the GM makes a few remarks to Geralt that seem to reflect things he said to Alvin during the game. Later, after the GM is killed, he has Alvin's amulet clenched in his dead hand. But it really is just a series of oblique references, and more of an impression than an actual conclusion--still a bit open to doubt. In my ending, Alvin is never actually confirmed the way you mention.

[Foss]

Hmm, well seems identical with my experience.

I also saw Alvin appear and Triss saying it was an illusion, and also the amulet in the GMs hands at the end. Though I think Geralt mentioned that the Amulet seems identical to the one he gave Alvin, but that it seemed more worn.
I never really thought that it would mean Alvin would be the GM.
What I heard was a bit like you say, that some thought Alvin was the GM because the GM made some remarks that some thought Alvin also had made.
I just thought it was going on in the end cutscene and not as part of the game.

EDIT: And I actually thought that Alvin would be a new GM and not the GM you kill. Because, I just heard people talking about a GM they thought was Alvin. And I thought it was the end cutscene they were talking about, where a new GM was shown, and that people thought it was Alvin because of some of the things he was saying.

[magerette]

Well who knows
The likelihood really is that it's Alvin, only grown up, that you meet as the GM--remember Geralt asking Triss what's happened to Alvin after the end of Act4, and she says "he teleported away. He could have gone anywhere in space or time"

[Foss]

Yeah I remember that.
It might be because I didn't connect the remarks the GM made, to something Alvin might have made. Because I still don't see it.
In Act 3, Sigfried mention the GM by name I think, when he tells you that he is about to recieve a medal from him. So that would either mean that Alvin goes from one appearance to another. Or that he for some reasons kills the former GM in act 4 and resumes his place.
Another thing is that I have trouble seeing Alvin like that, expecially after I feel I have tried to influence him in a good way, during our convesations.
But I won't say its not possible. And it is also strange that the end cutscene didn't say anything about what happened to Alvin.
I kind of feel the end cutscene didn't give many answers. What happened to Triss and I, what about Alvin, what about Vezemir (The old witcher that gave you the quest to retrive the mutagen at the start of them game).
Its a good teaser for a sequel, I just wished there would be some more answers from this game.

[Ausir]

Alvin probably went back in time and became Jacques in the past, he doesn't go from one appearance to other.

[Furia]

Adressing one guess made by HiddenX... light spoiler so don't bother hiding it if You have already read his ending spoiler.

A. Sapkowski's books never mention there being a different witcher school. In fact Kaer Morhen is most probably the only witcher school in the author's intention.

[Eliaures]

I just finished this game and wow, it's the best RPG I've played since Vampire: The Masquerade. It's been a while since I played an RPG that like a good book, I found very difficult to "put down". There's not any one aspect that makes it stand out, it was the culmination of the atmosphere, the character Geralt, the story, the CHOICES you could make, and the fact that the good/evil was more gray and less black/white that so many games and fantasy novels portray it.

I think my favorite scenes were the following.


I got choked up when The Lady of the Lake presented Geralt with his "Excalibur". I also got similarly touched upon reading Berengar's letter admitting his cowardice. His actions seemed so "human" to me and I sympathized with him.

[Arhu]

Oh my, imagine: no spoiler tags. :)

I just finished this game and wow, it's the best RPG I've played since Vampire: The Masquerade.

Meh, I need a new computer so I can play the game too! :[
And Eliaures, I like your interests!

[Eliaures]

And Eliaures, I like your interests!

Thanks! That's one of the nice things about a web site like this (praise be to the admin!) you can find folks that share similar interests. I always hate reaching the point with my computer that I can no longer upgrade. I feel for you, Arhu.

[Vio]

> I kind of feel the end cutscene didn't give many answers.

Same here. I was wondering if this was always the case or a result of too "open" choices regarding my Geralt's identity and love-life.
Especially the family - no family aspect... short of telling Zoltan that yes I want to start one, all of my actions pointed toward staying with Shani.

I kind of expected the entire "identity" quest to return as a slideshow showing Geralt's future (and I admit that I tried to make it "happy") but nothing of the like occurs.

Does any choice influence the ending at all, except which side to fight for?

[curiously undead]

i don't think alvin and the grandmaster are the same. i do think there is a link however and its has something to do with the soceresses. i think that some soceress gave the grand master the amulet and may have been had some control/influence over him just as triss tried to use the amulet to 'help' alvin. there was really too much talk about alvin being 'like a son' for him not to be just an innocent child at least in this game. i must be the only person who put my trust with shani over triss, next game i'll trust triss as i'm sure i missed out on a whole different story arc.

there was one book i could never sell and it had to do with 'shadow people' or somesuch from one of the border nations. i wonder if that's who the assassin is, because i didn't recognize it as a witcher and it difenitely looked human...although maybe it was one of the 'young' witchers from kaer moden...

[Prime Junta]

I think the case is pretty strong. It's summarized here: [ http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/Alvin ].

[curiously undead]

don't forget that raymond chandler also wasn't who he seemed. people are too eager to accept obvious conclusions rather than those with meaning. some would rather drive a square peg into a round hole rather than leave the hole empty (ie the case with the 12th paladin in gothic 3). i guess we are going to have to wait for witcher 2 to find out most likely. though some questions are never answered and maybe it along with end video are just the devs crafty storyhole making designed to really make us yearn for the witcher 2.

[Spaceritual]

Given all the little bits of information in the game I think the only conclusion is that Alvin and the GM are the same.

The amulet would look older as he went back thirty or fourty years , so the amulet aged with Alvin/GM. Also in the village ( Murky Waters) when playing with the kids he also mentions "wanting to be the GM"

[curiously undead]

its a good thing you guys aren't attorneys;)
i simply fail to see how most people are missing the underlining element about choices and consequences. it wouldn't seem right to me that they would make a game that addresses this topic so well and implemented in such a way that your choices make a real difference. why then would 'the king of the hunt' or death, the one who supposedly shapes destiny be right, and that no matter what you did to help alvin matter. it just seems to opposing to not only the game design, but an overall sense of abilities to change yourself and the world through action. i mean if berenger can be redeemed (or was in my case) through actions why not an orhaned child (who are much easier to help change).

also i think maybe some people haven't watched enough back to the future to fully grasp time travel. if alvin was a kid first he wouldn't have had any of the reasons to lead a life of hate. if he could control time travel why didn't he just jump again to the future. a timid child would hardly have preffered the past to the future. wouldn't that have put him in the time of the 'great war' of the recent past?
yes there are coincendences, but to me those never supercede logic, which to me dictates alvin must not grow up to be a madman doomed to death.