Witcher Witcher beginner questions during playthrough ?

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Pladio

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Hello. I started playing the Witcher and I might have some questions while playing.

Please do not give me spoilers for further chapters when you can prevent it.

Please be aware reading this thread might spoil your game if you haven't played before.

I was hoping to find answers here.

A few quick ones:

1. What's the point of the little dagger and the slot for an axe or mace ? Won't the fights be with the main weapons anyway ?
The only time I've used the small slot was touring a cave before I had cat potions…

2. I had received a quest from some fat guy in the inn in chapter 1 to find a dead friend. I had gone into the cave to find the guy but I didn't find anything, also I'm now in chapter two, would there be a way to go back to the outskirts at some point ?

3. If possible without spoilers, would it be known to us at some point whether or not Abigail was the one who created the Beast ? Or if it really was the villagers ?
I let Abigail go and slaughtered all the citizens, because I didn't like them kidnapping children, but I'm quite suspicious of her too.

4. How useful is it to upgrade the signs ? I don't understand what "Sign Intensity" really means ?

Bonus :
Why can I sell chicken for 5 coins, but the most exquisite wine for only 2 ?

Note: I just started chapter 2, finished off the beast in the sewers.

Thanks in advance
 
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3. If possible without spoilers, would it be known to us at some point whether or not Abigail was the one who created the Beast ? Or if it really was the villagers ?
I let Abigail go and slaughtered all the citizens, because I didn't like them kidnapping children, but I'm quite suspicious of her too.

It has been a very long while since I played the Witcher so I can't answer your other questions with certainty. As for Abigail, I remember, after completing many quests in chapter 1 and finding out the many crimes of the people in the city, I wanted to let her go. So speaking to people and completing quests should give you a hint. Moreover, you will get one of those cards when you let her go ;).
 
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1. What's the point of the little dagger and the slot for an axe or mace ? Won't the fights be with the main weapons anyway ?
The only time I've used the small slot was touring a cave before I had cat potions…

Weapons other than swords are completely useless.You can sell them, but not for particularly good sum.
2. I had received a quest from some fat guy in the inn in chapter 1 to find a dead friend. I had gone into the cave to find the guy but I didn't find anything, also I'm now in chapter two, would there be a way to go back to the outskirts at some point ?
There is now way to return and complete that quest anymore.Corpse was in that cave IIRC it wasn't hidden.
3. If possible without spoilers, would it be known to us at some point whether or not Abigail was the one who created the Beast ? Or if it really was the villagers ?
I let Abigail go and slaughtered all the citizens, because I didn't like them kidnapping children, but I'm quite suspicious of her too.
It wasn't Abi, you can see that from Alvin's vision.
4. How useful is it to upgrade the signs ? I don't understand what "Sign Intensity" really means ?
It's useful but not as much as swords.Sign intensity increases damage and additional effects like duration, range etc.. depending on sign
 
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3. If possible without spoilers, would it be known to us at some point whether or not Abigail was the one who created the Beast ? Or if it really was the villagers ?
I let Abigail go and slaughtered all the citizens, because I didn't like them kidnapping children, but I'm quite suspicious of her too.

You're asking a very good question, but did you happen to read the beast entry from the witcher beastiary? :)

"The hellhound, referred to also as the Beast, is a creature of the underworld, a specter that assumes the form of a terrifying hound and tirelessly stalks its victims once it finds their trail. Peasants believe that the hellhound embodies the vengeance of the gods, who send the Beast to punish humans for their wickedness."

The wickedness part is important. As far as I've understood beast appears when crime goes largely unpunished and when wicked deeds pay off. During chapter 1 you can find various hints how corrupt the whole village is truly and how many of the population has some kind of dark secret.

The most obvious examples:

-Mikul the town guard raped a girl called Ilsa and the girl did a suicide by using abigeil's poison. Mikul's was never punished. Instead he was accepted to town's guard.

-The revered had a daughter, whom he renounced and exiled due to girl being pregnant. Yet he acts all high and mighty infront of his flock.

- Haren Brogg in the docks has been selling illegal weapons to elven terrorists and he has likely done much worse. Yet authorities let him run his business without interference.

-The fat Merchant, Odo had a brother who was a soldier and Odo despises all soldiers because well he couldn't himself ever become one due to his cowardice. The armour of Odo's brother can be found inside the merchant's house, bearing the coat of arms of Temeria. During one of the side quests you can find out that his brother is likely burried near odo's house which explains the presence of the nasty Echinopsae plants.

And what do we know about these kind of plants? Again to quote witcher beastiary: ""Echinopsae are monstrous plants born of curses which grow in places where terrible crimes have been committed if the crime in question was never atoned for. The beasts try to take their vengeance on criminals, but they do not spare the lives of innocents who haplessly enter their territory."

Now you can pretty much put 1 and 1 together. Again an evil deed has gone unpunished.

-Also we cannot ignore how revered and his closest supporters safeguarded the salamandra presence in the village because this organization kept them in power.

-Most of all many ordinary villagers were well aware of the mentioned crimes, but they decided to look the other way because its easier not intervene.

And ofcourse Abigeil herself is not entirely blameless as she sold the poison to Ilsa. No doubt she has sold other kinds of poisons to other villagers in the past, but I think she lacks the power to summon any kinds of beasts. Beast appears because of the evil deeds men and women do daily basis.

Atleast thats how I understood it.
 
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You'll need some signs to finish off some criters later on but aside from that I think the shield sign was the most useful. Aard can also help with clearing out foes and positioning. In general signs are nowhere near as useful as swords.
On Abigail while I think that the provided info certainly points towards the beast coming to life due to the villagers I think the game was intentionally a bit ambiguous on the matter. I don't remember the vision mentioned by Nameless one.
 
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Thanks everyone.

I've just gone through most of the quests in the Temple Quarter, while I should have been cleaning the dishes and going to bed :D

The game is quite fun and trying to find the people working with the amphibians is fun.

The battles against humans are generally quite easy.
I had to reload once when I got ambushed by four strange monsters whose name I've forgotten in a cellar to get some wine.

Also I learned not to go into the detective's house form the internet until I finish the quests with Coleman, which I think was a bit of a cheat on my part, but I stumbled upon it by accident while reading something else in the wiki. (reading about Haren Brogg's package)

I don't have echinops in my bestiary. I'm not sure why. I am not sure how and when it gets populated.

I'm going to go to the Dike next play-time, probably tomorrow night.

Good night all.
 
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Thanks everyone.

I've just gone through most of the quests in the Temple Quarter, while I should have been cleaning the dishes and going to bed :D

The game is quite fun and trying to find the people working with the amphibians is fun.

The battles against humans are generally quite easy.
I had to reload once when I got ambushed by four strange monsters whose name I've forgotten in a cellar to get some wine.

Also I learned not to go into the detective's house form the internet until I finish the quests with Coleman, which I think was a bit of a cheat on my part, but I stumbled upon it by accident while reading something else in the wiki. (reading about Haren Brogg's package)

I don't have echinops in my bestiary. I'm not sure why. I am not sure how and when it gets populated.

I'm going to go to the Dike next play-time, probably tomorrow night.

Good night all.

Remember talking to (old) women, they usually tell stories about monsters which add entries to witcher codex. Also an alternative is to buy monster books from vendors :)
 
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They usually want something though .... And I never seem to have what they want handy as I put everything in storage at the inn. I have 10 rings and a few amulets, lots of fancy wine, one blue meteorite ore,....
Any suggestions on what items to keep ?

New question:

4. How do I use the forging menu with the blacksmith? It just looks like a shop menu and there don't seem to be any options or explanations on how to forge better swords ...

Thanks again.
 
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They usually want something though …. And I never seem to have what they want handy as I put everything in storage at the inn. I have 10 rings and a few amulets, lots of fancy wine, one blue meteorite ore,….
Any suggestions on what items to keep ?

New question:

4. How do I use the forging menu with the blacksmith? It just looks like a shop menu and there don't seem to be any options or explanations on how to forge better swords …

Thanks again.

They usually want food or alcohol in return.

Meteor ore is used to forge new Steel swords. There are 3 kinds of meteor ore in witcher 1:

1. Blue which is the most common ore type, increases the chance to cause pain and disarm effect.
2. Red: adds more base damage and increases the chance to cause bleeding effect.
3. Yellow which is the rarest ore type: adds more base damage and increases the chance to cause: pain, stun, precise hit and bleeding effects)

You always need 3 piece to forge a sword, but you can combine various ore pieces like:
-3 red or 2blue+1red or 1yellow+2 red and so forth. Each recipe forges a different kind of sword.

To forge a sword you must have atleast 3 pieces of ore in your inventory. When you open the blacksmith inventory, you can see all the possible sword combinations in his inventory ready to purchased. Forging a new sword costs orens naturally, so you need to have proper ammount of orens.

Forging a new silver sword is quite similar, but instead of ore stones, you need collect rune stones: there are 3 kinds of them as well.

1. Earth rune
2. Sun rune
3. Moon rune

There are also few other rune stones that can be added to your silver sword like oils or whethstones.
 
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