#cdpr what are you so afraid of?

[harellan]

why’d they give male v such a juicy ass but none of the male npcs

[the-butch-of-blaviken]

new theory! what if Keira only pretended to be afraid of rats so Geralt thought she would never go to the tower on her own? playing the game from the start... it's not very likely that all rats gone after you killed the pester 🤔 damsel in distress with a witcher present, rat killer supreme when she needs to get the papers??

Oh my god. Girl was playing the long game so 1) Geralt would never suspect she'd go to the tower herself and 2) he'd do the dirty work for her. Queen of knowing when to delegate the work 😌

I like this headcanon better than the "tee-hee, i'm afraid of rats so you'll have to go to the tower for me Geralt :3" version cdpr gave us. It gives her character more depth and complexity, as in 1) she's smart enough to know when not to appear as such when she needs to and 2) she overacts her femininity when she feels like it can get her somewhere.

[windflowerofskellige]

The chess monologue is both an allegory for politics but it is also more importantly a cry for help from a traumatised and abused teenager. He is terribly lonely and afraid, and he's trying his best without undermining his authority to say "look at me, I am hurting." The madman misconception is inherently ableist both against people who suffer from psychosis which is the coding that CDPR made of him and the express opinion of Vernon Roche. The thing is Radovid is not psychotic, he is not experiencing delusions, though he is paranoid. Paranoia itself however is not exclusively a symptom of psychosis. His mental state is more accurately reflected in people with Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which he absolutely has. There is no denying that Radovid is a traumatised kid, he just is in the same way you cannot deny that Cirilla is a traumatised kid. But even the paranoia is not unfounded! Look at what happened to the last Redanian King that did not pay close enough attention to his court. The Witch killed him, she explicitly confirms as much when she gives you his father's signet ring. He knows the witch killed him, its explicitly confirmed he knows this in the witcher 2 if you watch the scene where he gouges out Philippa's eyes, but even if it weren't when you present him the ring he KNOWS she did.

The topic of Philippa however is more important to this scene than one realises on first viewing. Philippa herself did not want to rule over Redania. She cannot politically rule over Redania in its current state but such words as "no" have never stopped the sorceress before and tie into her parallels with Vilgefortz. No she did not want to be Queen of Redania, rule over Redania as a King would, if she did she would've by now she has shown time and again that she can manipulate the political chess board. She thrives not on the direct power, but on being the puppeteer. She raised Radovid in her image, tried to force him into her mould because she wants out of him a perfect image of her ideals without her ambition. It is why she systematically cuts off Radovid's support network, isolating him to maintain control. It is why if you play reasons of state she kills him. He has failed his purpose. Knowing this and using her torture scene from the witcher 2 which people also would like to say is clear evidence for his slipping into madness where he explicitly goes into detail about how he knows what she's done, you witness her literally gaslight him about it, and yet even so people will claim he is mad.

The thing is he isn't, that chess scene is him using a game he's fond of, as a metaphor for both the politics but also appealing to the Witcher who has been known to help people like him who have been hurt like he has (Ciri) in the only way he knows how. He gives the witcher Cyprian without hesitation because he's hoping this man can see the picture he is trying to paint. But if you humour him, if you say "yes sire, I think i understand" the part of him that has been abused is rejected. It is signalling to Radovid that Geralt doesn't trust him or see him as he is trying to be seen. The thing about Saint Gregory's bridge, the thing that I don't understand when people use his ordering of execution on the bridge is that players seem to assume Radovid does not know this is a plot on his life? Geralt has presented sufficient evidence that even with the plot Eilhart will be there, and he knows Eilhart's M.O. extensively and that is to kill him. Of course he orders Geralt killed. That's ignoring that even without Dijkstra the Redanian Secret Service is the best on the continent and Philippa is his prime target.

The chess scene by that metric is not only politics and a cry for help, it is a glimpse of his inner child, of hope. He is ruled by his trauma, and in that way he is still a kid, and when you treat traumatised kids they do not have the words to express what they are experiencing and instead show it through their play and art and toys. He is expressing his trauma through the chess monolgue. If you look at the chess monologue from that perspective that is as influential and important as the decisions you make regarding Ciri. But what the game has presented is that he has presented Geralt with a cry for help, and as every single time before he has given indication he is hurting he is met with backlash and scorn. A King must not show weakness, why would this time be any different? It is literally the same as selling Ciri to Emhyr and telling her she's not worth the effort and energy, telling her she's just another pawn to be used by Nilfgaard the way they see fit (an objectively wrong decision the game even points out as such). The fact of the matter is what he alludes to in that scene with the way that he says "His own chessmen might trap him. And that is check…and death." is that it is putting the king, the only piece on the board that cannot be taken, and turning it on its head and making it a pawn easily sacrificed and taken. It is signalling he sees himself as a pawn in politics, because Philippa saw him as a pawn in politics, because the plots and assassinations and everything surrounding the current political landscape of the north see him as merely a pawn and he is so deeply afraid of being expendable that he'd rather brutally stamp out any percieved threat than let someone too close and lose his life.

Radovid's chess monologue: devotion, betrayal and *lub-dub, lub-dub*

Today I’m going to explain to you the criminally overlooked Radovid’s chess monologue. That is not a comical crazy nonsense. That’s absolutely gorgeous speech about devotion, betrayal and *lub-dub lub-dub*.

Chekmate. They say that's the game of kings. That chess teaches one to think strategically. What a load of rubbish! Both sides have identical pieces, the rules stay invariably the same. How does this mirror real life?

Radovid, despite his young age, is a rather experienced ruler. He had to solve this most difficult puzzle called “politics” more than once. Politics is not chess, and here no one plays by the rules. Therefore, Radovid had very quickly accustomed himself to cold calculation, flexibility of mind and a certain amount of cynicism.

Witcher, do you know why I play chess?

Whatever the answer, Radovid ends the introductory part of the monologue and proceeds to the main one.

I play chess to reveal the game's secret. Blood thumps inside this chessmen. You need only listen - and you will hear. Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub...A heart pumping with life. I take a pawn - and hear flesh being rent. I win a piece - and hear screams from the depths of its bowels. I want to break the chessmen open, squeeze the truth from them. Do you see what I mean?

This whole piece is one continuous metaphor. Let's look at it in more detail.

Blood thumps inside this chessmen. You need only listen - and you will hear. Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub...

This is the most memorable moment, although Radovid only poetically compares the figures with people, and “lub-dub” is nothing more than an imitation of a heartbeat; a symbol of how noisy life is in a chess piece, if instead of it we imagine a living person, but on the political "board" of kings.

A heart pumping with life. I take a pawn - and hear flesh being rent. I win a piece - and hear screams from the depths of its bowels.

Through chess images, Radovid paints a picture of real political life with numerous deaths and sacrifices in the name of a certain goal. Dead flesh, death screams - this is what remains of the "pawns" that kings sweep away from their political board with a wave of their hands.

I play chess to reveal the game's secret.

Do you see what I mean?

What secret is he talking about? What is the "truth" that Radovid set out to squeeze out of chess? Perhaps these are the most difficult questions of the chess monologue. In order to fully understand them, you need to answer the king “No, I don't” and listen to Radovid’s further explanation.

You do not beacause you are not a king. Pawns see only the comrades at their sides and the foes across the field. The king has the differen view of the chessboard. His greatest foes surrounds him. His own chessmen might trap him. And that is check...and death. You see, witcher : сhess is a art of sacrificing your own pieces. Now do you see?

This is the key point of the monologue. Here is a real possibility in chess, when the king gets a checkmate only because he is blocked by his own pieces, and an analogy with royal power, when lieges betray their monarch. This is a clear allusion to a conspiracy against the king of Redania, arranged by the Temerians and Dijkstra (which is typical, none of the king's inner circle or from other Redanians, with the exception of a traitor soldier, is involved in the conspiracy. This makes one seriously doubt the veracity of Dijkstra's speeches and the journal entry that, they say, everyone would be happy about the death of the White Eagle).

The king is afraid of betrayal, because recently several rulers of the North have fallen victims of evil intentions: Demavend III, Foltest, and even earlier - his own father, Vizimir II. Radovid is very afraid of repeating his fate. The situation is doubly aggravated by the war with Nilfgaard and the beginning of the Witch Hunt. The king is always on the alert, because he knows for sure: a lot of spiteful critics have divorced around, who in the most decisive way decided to throw him off the throne.

Thus, the “truth” that Radovid wants to squeeze out is the desire to obtain convincing evidence of the loyalty of his pawns, close associates and subjects (Geralt, Roche, etc.). Not without reason follows the explanation of the message about the king, locked in a trap by his own pawns.

His greatest foes surrounds him. His own chessmen might trap him. And that is check...and death.

He is absolutely right. Vernon Roche and Geralt are exactly those "pawns" that can lure the king into a deadly trap.

Another aspect of this monologue is reasonable sacrifices for the common good. In chess, one must be able to sacrifice one's pieces, as well as on the field of big politics - one's subjects (for example, Whoreson Junior). In the context of the infidelity of the lieges to their king, Radovid probably also takes into account the need to sacrifice unreliable pawns in time so that they do not harm the monarch. No wonder he orders to kill Geralt on the bridge of St. Gregory, because he suspects him of treason and barrier of all kinds. This is a fair assumption, given that on behalf of the witcher, the player can interfere with the plans of the king more than once.

You see, witcher: сhess is a art of sacrificing your own pieces.

It turns out that, on the one hand, chess doesn't mirror the real life (after all, no one plays by the rules in politics!), and on the other hand, how many figurative references can be found in chess to the real life of kings (and not only kings! ). Here is such a duality and depth. Perhaps, this is precisely the “secret” of chess for Radovid. Speaking more globally, chess in an incomprehensible way combines many different motives: ethics, metaphysics, music, mathematics, philosophy, and even love. The game is full of a bottomless amount of hidden meanings, and Radovid, as a talented chess player, understands and feels this very well.

And if we go back a little and answer the king's question "Yes, I do"?

Radovid: …I want to break the chessmen open, squeeze the truth from them. Do you see what I mean? Geralt: Yes, Sire, believe I do.

Radovid will react quite sharply to this.

You know shit. You're merely humoring me! I was not speaking literally.

These words of Radovid destroy any ridiculous assumption that the king, they say, in a fit of madness treats chess as if it were alive. And the king clearly does not tolerate any sycophancy. Perhaps it is for this reason that His Majesty will not give such a detailed explanation and will limit himself to only one phrase:

First hidden truth: a monarch is always surrounded by fools. Understand?

Around the monarch there are always a lot of sycophants who naively think that they are smarter and more cunning than their ruler and can easily deceive him. Radovid was surrounded by the ambitious sorceress Philippa Eilhart, who wanted to personally rule over Redania, and arrogant, blooming nobles, who did not respect the young heir.

At the end of the scene, Roche gives an extremely strange assessment of the king's speech:

Radovid's sinking ever deeper into madness, as I see it.

Also, an equally strange entry appears in the journal on behalf of Dandelion, where, among other things, it is indicated that

Geralt's meeting with Radovid confirmed the rumors circling around the king's mental state. The Redanian king was a dangerous madman trapped in his own world of disturbing visions

It is completely incomprehensible, on the basis of what Radovid's phrases we should have the impression that His Majesty is insane. If you listen to the king carefully, it is quite obvious that he says the right and logical things, in fact, describing his royal life, and the Eagle uses very beautiful images for this.

The words about the "mad king" looks like a deliberate denigration of Radovid. "Madness" is an inappropriate word to describe the state of mind of His Majesty, his pain and his anguish. But, of course, by the events of The Witcher 3, the king is on the verge of breaking, and a real abyss has opened up inside him. However, this is not about chess at all.

[on-a-lucky-tide]

I've been thinking about how book Eskel might have got his scar (as much as I do like the Deidre storyline, it's a CDPR invention, and having two canons - three, I guess, if you count Gwent - that I adore means I can substitute one for others if I want to dabble and world build). With thanks to @lohrendrell, who gave me her ear, heart eyes and some amazing reflections to bounce off of, too.

I revisited my favourite book Eskel art. I also read the Thanedd Banquet again recently....

TW: mention of canonical grossness re: consent/sexual assault; reflections on book canon; deliberate mutilation.

For reference, the bit that started my reflection (from Time of Contempt):

‘. . . with Yennefer?’ enquired the redhead, playing with a pearl necklace, coiled around her neck like a dog’s collar.

‘Are you serious, Sabrina?’

‘Absolutely,’ answered Sabrina Glevissig. ‘You won’t believe it, but it’s been going on for several years. And I’m surprised indeed he can stand that vile toad.’

‘Why be surprised? She’s put a spell on him. She has him under a charm. Think I’ve never done that?’

‘But he’s a witcher! They can’t be bewitched. Not for so long, at any rate.’

‘It must be love then,’ sighed the redhead. ‘And love is blind.’

‘He’s blind, more like,’ said Sabrina, grimacing. ‘Would you believe, Marti, that she dared to introduce me to him as an old school friend? Bloody hell, she’s older than me by . . . Oh, never mind. I tell you, she’s hellishly jealous about that Witcher. Little Merigold only smiled at him and that hag bawled her out and sent her packing in no uncertain terms. And right now . . . Take a look. She’s standing there, talking to Francesca, without ever taking her eyes off her Witcher.’

‘She’s afraid,’ giggled the redhead, ‘that we’ll have our way with him, even if only for tonight. Are you up for it, Sabrina? Shall we try? He’s a fit lad, not like those conceited weaklings of ours with all their complexes and pretensions . . .’

‘Don’t talk so loud, Marti,’ hissed Sabrina. ‘Don’t look at him and don’t grin. Yennefer’s watching us too. And stay classy. Do you really want to seduce him? That would be in bad taste.’

‘Hmm, you’re right,’ agreed Marti after a moment’s thought. ‘But what if he suddenly came over and suggested it himself?’

‘In that case,’ said Sabrina Glevissig, glancing at the Witcher with a predatory, coal-black eye. ‘I’d give it to him without a second thought, even lying on a rock.’

‘I’d even do it lying on a hedgehog,’ sniggered Marti.

Sorceresses (and probably sorcerers) use magic to sleep with people fairly often. Triss does it to Geralt in the books and the games. There are references here to it and elsewhere.

But what if Eskel was resistant to it? As in, it didn't work/had no effect. He was a devilishly handsome man. What if someone like Sabrina, with her coal-black, predatory eyes, propositioned him openly - he declined - then she used magic, and he still declined, charming smile in place?

How insulted would they be? How much would it offend their arrogance and sense of entitlement? Perhaps the offended magic-user captured Eskel and decided to carve that charming smile permanently in place; he fought them and got away before they could finish the other side.

It would certainly put a really heartbreaking angle on the whole 'bending the knee' to Triss. Not everyone deals with trauma in the same way. What if Eskel's way to 'deal with it' is to make sure there's never a chance of it ever happening again? He practically grovels at Triss' feet, kisses her hand. (In this potential interpretation, when she draws her hand back, his heart plummets because he thinks he somehow fucked it up, only to breathe a sigh of relief when he hasn't). And then later, well... he learned the hard way not to resist a sorcerer/esses advances.

Eskel doesn't smile at strangers now; no flirtatious winks or roguish grins. He reserves the pitiful grimaces that pass as a smile for his family and friends; people he knows won't hurt him. Besides, it's not a smile anymore, it's... well, it's something, isn't it?

When he returns to Kaer Morhen after that season, he makes up some story about an endrega and a lucky shot. Completely fobs it off. Perhaps Geralt senses there is something else amiss, but he doesn't say anything. Why would Eskel lie?

He sits under that tree most of the time now, sketching in his journal, writing things. Geralt knows he used to write lewd poetry, but he doesn't think that happens anymore. Eskel still drinks with the remains of the school, but there are shadows behind his eyes now. They all have them, but Eskel's are different, somehow. One day, Geralt might ask. One day he might be strong enough to take on a little of what is pulling Eskel down. One day.

Building on the above, what if this was the moment Geralt and Eskel's paths truly divided? They are commonly referred to as 'like brothers' due to their similarity. But what if it used to be more than just appearance? They did everything together; trained, played, dreamed. Maybe Eskel wanted to have a similarly absurd name as Geralt; the others used to tease him about all the swooning women that would fall at his feet. Eskel was always slightly more pragmatic - he never reached the same heady heights of idealism as Geralt - but he still believed the world was going to be better than it was. He still allowed himself to be swept up a little in Geralt's fairytale. Perhaps that's what made his fall all the harder; he knew the drop was there, but he still let himself believe...

Geralt and Eskel were broken by the world in different ways, and they wear it differently, too.

Fuck, now I want to give them nice things again. *opens the Word Doc*

[faneposting-my-beloved]

Damn if it wasn't for your blog i would have no idea about the crap Larian has been doing.

Larian has a lot of issues they've failed to address over the years and I'm afraid they all slowly come to bite them back. Rightfully so.

Sorry for hijacking the ask like this but I believe this is a good moment to talk about what I think hinders Larian and could ultimately spell their doom seeing the path Baldur's Gate 3 is taking. Overambition. Now, it's not too uncommon for developers to over-calculate their potential and aim for the moon. Bethesda is known for this, CDPR also fell into this rabbit hole. But when it came to Larian, biting too much than they could chew was the case from the very start. Divine Divinity (The Mage, The Lady and The Knight before) struggled with funding because Larian, having no prior experience making games, kept expanding the project further and further. The game was shipped prematurely and despite being a beloved classic nearly pulled the company into bankruptcy. Beyond Divinity comes around with the same scenario, rinse and repeat. Divinity II was tremendous originally. The base concept included all 7 races, an RTS-style battle against Damian’s forces and travelling Rivellon in search of councillors to join your Battle Tower, on top of 30 playable levels. Most of this was cut out due to financial and time restrains and the game shipped as another disappointment that consolidated Larian's belief it was outside publishers who were 'in the way' of them making games as they wanted. This was not entirely the case. Their first self-published game was Dragon Commander, a spin-off to the series that was produced alongside what would later become Original Sin 1 (The game started as an adventure game for younger audiences about a painted world that shifted in real time as the story progressed). Halfway during development the focus shifted to the now-OS1 and Dragon Commander remained this little project they finished on the side. All the same, DC is probably the most full and cohesive Divinity experience up to date. The game was one of a kind with eclectic gameplay that oddly enough (In Todd Howard's voice) just worked. Still, OS1 was a success with a surprising amount of depth in gameplay and roleplay aspects, with brand new Action Point turn based combat to boot. The game still suffered from very Larian-esque plethora of problems (story being written on the go, a specific kind of humor that you either love or hate and lack of QoL features that made beating the game a bit of a drag)

And here comes the DOS2 era that showed that, after all of this, Larian never truly learned. First, DOS2 scope was meant to be massive with one map the size of Reaper's Coast for every race. Originally Fort Joy, Arx and Driftwood belonged in ONE human map. Larian hired several new writers (as opposed to 1 main writer before) to take care of the game's story to finally make it something 'deeper'. As stated by Swen (the CEO) himself they ultimately had to limit the amount of writers working on the story because how chaotic and unsupervised the whole process was. The Kickstarter goals also had to be met, adding even more pressure onto the whole development process that mid-way had to be curbed (this time out of Larian's own volition) and the game became what it is today. I contacted a credible source and learnt that the pressure to wrap everything up was so huge, the story (what the writers wrote for the game exactly) was so twisted and butchered to make it to the deadline, it hardly resembled the original. And hence the storyline being noncohesive or outright self-contradicting at times and making little sense. And do I need to mention the fact they willingly cut content out of their game after release with the update to Definitive/Classic edition? This content being companion endings (hinted by the dialogue before academy as a possible and valid option) and Fane's interactions which were crucial to characterising him better, among other things we might never know were cut. Now with Baldur's 3 Larian is dead set on putting all of their earlier ambitions to shame while still being a smaller studio than CDPR (the closest equivalent we have) when they were making Witcher 3. And we'll see how it goes.

Sources: [DD to D:OS1] [DII cuts] [D:OS2 cuts/problems/development][The making of D:OS2]

[gayregis]

It may just be me but the way I was introduced to Yennefer by tw3 made me dislike her and I didn’t really get over that until I started reading the books because CDPR didn’t really give her much depth other than being snarky. Like she’s so much more than her wit and for that reason I will be asking her to stomp on me

yeah, cdpr did yennefer a really large disservice by portraying her as snarky, bossy, and rude to geralt, not caring about his opinions on things a lot of the time and basically being this incredibly one-dimensional “i have my own plans and i don’t have to explain myself to anyone” type. which isn’t even what yennefer in the books was like, the only time she “hid her plans” from geralt was in the last wish when she was literally the plot’s antagonist. after she and geralt become close, she’s incredibly giving to him and while she still has her insecurities and is still afraid to share some of her vulnerabilities, she doesn’t just block him from information in a manipulative fashion. after those four years in vengerberg, they practically knew everything about each other.

and every other NPC in tw3 is always commenting about how yennefer’s such a bitch. like all of the wolf school witchers make fun of her, i think cerys calls you whipped or something. literally when you begin the game, vesemir insults her to your face. that’s a pretty misogynistic creation of cdpr, because in the books yennefer had been to kaer morhen multiple times and she was never there uninvited, and thus it should be assumed that she was well-liked. in actuality the one that the wolf school witchers are annoyed by is triss, who lambert constantly mocks.

this isn’t helped by the fact that so many tw3 fans call yennefer a bitch and manipulative and accuse her of being abusive to geralt in the books/games and tell everyone to go romance triss instead because she’s so sweet... as if geralt and triss ever had a consensual romantic relationship and as if geralt ever had any actual romantic interest in triss, as if triss didn’t betray them all by siding with the lodge of sorceresses to kidnap ciri and not care if yennefer or geralt died in that process.

sapkowski had some moments in the books where i think his definition of “spicy relationship” were more definitions of red flags for abuse, but it’s much like the whole of the witcher, in that there are parts that suffer from their male authorship of the 90s’, but overall it is an overwhelming positive experience. if you accept yennefer throwing fruit preserves at geralt, you also have to accept geralt sleeping with underage essi daven and shani, and i am personally retconning all of these things. if you retcon those things then yeah they do have a pretty good relationship in the books (especially during the scenes in time of contempt and lady of the lake) and it’s sad to see their relationship reduced to “i like you because you make bad puns sometimes,” instead of “we deeply care about eachother’s being and we are able to be vulnerable around each other.”

i’m currently redoing the last wish quest in tw3 ng+ right now and i am just... blink blink blink... at how they approached the lore concerning how yennefer and geralt’s relationship originated. geralt’s wish didn’t make them fall in love, it just intertwined their fates. and then they died, the end.

the worst part is that yennefer’s relationship to ciri was entirely wiped from tw3. yennefer’s relationship to ciri is way more important than yennefer’s relationship to geralt, but they just removed it because they wanted to make an equal playing ground for triss and yennefer. but like, yennefer becoming ciri’s mother was such a big step in development as a character for her. that demonstrated not only what love she was capable of but why she hid it from the rest of the world and wasn’t eager to dole it out. it develops her because she becomes a more mature and selfless woman and focuses less on how she has been victimized in her life, rather focusing on the well-being of her daughter instead. yennefer did EVERYTHING for ciri, she fell into torture attempting to save her, and she prolonged the torture by not willingly giving information about geralt and ciri.

then cdpr erased all of this and had ciri distrust yennefer by saying she doesn’t trust her and thinks she has plans for her... like what? where the fuck are you getting this from? why are you slandering yennefer like this? and having ciri trust avallac’h, a fucking aen elle who was one of her kidnappers and assisted in her being raped multiple times and is weirdly obsessed with her because she’s the descendant of lara dorren, who he had a crush on or whatever? remember that time he fucking gripped ciri by the neck to shut her up? yeah, i really trust this guy...

also as a sidenote. i am apalled by what cdpr did to yennefer’s hair. that is NOT fucking stormy curls, that is a salon blowout. and don’t say it would hurt our computers to run a more book-friendly hairstyle, because i use book yennefer hair mod reworked and it runs fine. idk WHY the fuck they did that to her because the concept art looked way better...

(unrelated, i kinda hate the “step/stomp on me” meme but i’ll let it slide)

[voidsentprinces]

its weird to watch the feelings of a fandom careen back and forth across a hypothetical badminton court. Like for a while there, the Author of Witcher was being an ass to CDProjektRed about not foreseeing how the Witcher 1 would eventually snowball into the fame of Witcher 3. General consensus was this guy was an ass who was now reaping what he sew. But then Netflix releases the Witcher series and CDPR fuck up Cyberpunk 2077 and now there seems to be a large uprising to protect the Witcher’s original works and a consensus has arisen that the author is actually pretty alright after getting his pay out from CDPR.

Like sitting at a table or bench to rest and watching two people start arguing with one another. And you’re too afraid to get up lest they turn their gaze on you for whatever reason. So you just watch them go back and forth like:

[solo-net]

what did you change in canon for cyberpunk?

*cracks knuckles*

Brace yourself, my masked friend. I’ve got a list of things I changed in my fanon universe.

- Jackie is not dead. He merely passed from blood loss out in the back of Delamain’s car, and thinking that he was dead, a heartbroken Vera had the cab drive him to his family’s home. Mama Welles received his body, and when she checked his pulse, she realized that it was faint and immediately set to get him medical attention. Jackie wakes up, and not wanting to draw any attention onto himself, he lays in hiding until the smoke clears enough for him to reunite with Vera, who genuinely believes that he’s dead. 

- Goro has a much larger backstory, and he has two different endings that don’t involve him being dead, remaining under the employ of Arasaka, or “betrayed” by V. My endings for him is that if romanced, he remains by V’s side in The Star ending and The Sun ending. In the second ending, where you don’t romance him, he cuts off all ties to Arasaka and mysteriously disappears but not before sending V a thank you message for helping him open up his eyes and setting him on a path of righteousness.

- Yorinobu and Michiko Arasaka have a bigger role in the game and aren’t relegated to being side-characters or silent NPCs. Seriously, they had so much potential, and the fact that CDPR did nothing with these characters burns me.

- V’S ENDING. My fanon ending where V does manage to find a cure, but in a cutscene, there are reports of aggressive AI on the loose, and V once again finds themselves in another fight. You can choose to remain free of this by joining up with the Aldecados or remaining in Night City. A fully healed Jackie joins V in the fight, and they drive off together for one last “gig.” 

I have some more, but if I’m afraid, I’ll just end up ranting, so this is all I have for right now. This is my emotional support fanon, and no one can take that from me.

[yocalio]

Say what you will about CDPR handling some parts of Yen's character or her relationships poorly, spreading a whole lot of misinformation about Geralt's Wish or excluding her relationship with Ciri, they adapted her overall energy very faithfully. Voice, dialogue, body language and avatar, she dominated every frame she was in, as she should. Still my favorite adaptation of her so far. Netflix's Yen felt too tame/low energy more often than not and I blame the script and direction.

I cannot agree more. She never even felt like an NPC to me. It's no wonder CDPR waited until the final installment to bring her in, as by their own admission they were afraid of her lol. They didn't think they could get her right and on their first try I think they did a pretty damn good job. TW3 Yennefer is also my favorite adaptation of the character so far.

[starszakrew-a3]

andrezj sapkowski is still a bitch baby coward bastard boy but cdpr also can suck my ass :

uhhh so yea after she burns nilfgaard to the ground and kills emhyr she??? dips for a while cause hey lemme process what i just did

ik nilfgaard and emhyr are big parts of tw3 but one of the endings involves geralt taking ciri to the man who was directly responsible for all of the suffering in her life so they can burn lmao

anyways yea so the game progresses and the hunt is chasing her moving on

and then BOOM battle of kaer morhen here we go

lambert???? obviously doesn’t fucking die???? legit that is so fucking random and weird why is that a thing that’s allowed to happen if you’re not familiar w the books you prob Aren’t as attached to him as people who are 

if you’re one second too late he dies idk cdpr is fucking weird

moving on

uhhh vesemir still dies??? probably??? ciri doesn’t need v much motivation to obliterate the wild hunt but wowie wow wow that scene

sorry vesemir u were a real one i’ll save you later but ur not my main concern atm

so the crones tried to fucking EAT HER before handing her off like a prized pig

so she kills them

all of them

fuck that shit w weavess taking her medallion its only there so that if you get the Worst ending geralt has something to do

then ciri goes and kills imlerith very fucking slowly ciri is not a nice girl

she will make him suffer for what he did and who he took from her

THIS IS MY STORY NOT YOURS IS A LINE THEY FUCKING WROTE FOR CIRI WHAT DID THEY EXPECT

they could’ve made tw3 ciri’s game but they’re sexist cowards who were afraid of losing their straight white boy market

ciri kills caranthir lmao sorry son your “dad” chose her over you idk what to tell you

and then. of course. ciri takes her sweet fucking time giving eredin what he deserves.

this is my story, not yours. you must let me finish telling it.

and then this happens and bing bang boom that’s the end of tw3!!! tw3 is ciri’s game!!! sorry geralt you had your time!!!

[moribirb]

[[MORE]]

At this point I'm terrified to post anything fanon related to the Witcher fandom.

While the fandom itself isn't that much active, it consists of terrible fans who would blatantly attack you for having headcanons and non-canon ships. What bothers me most is that there is a significant amount of canon-Nazis who would approach you with "But the books say-!!!" and who accuse you of "denying the canon" and who would try to invalidate your own imagination, telling how wrong you are for liking something that, according to them, "would never happen in the canon!!" and how it would "disrespect Sapkowski's imagination" and some of them are so convincing, so manipulative, so intimidating, that I'm afraid to contribute anything slightly related to the Witcher fandom.

Even if CDPR opened a huge box of fanon with their games, some fans will go bonkers if you don't ship Geralt and Yennefer. (and I do like them - among many other potential relationships this universe has to offer - both canon and fanon).

[starszakrew-a2]

are you exited about the witcher show? i love the witcher but i'm not happy they're making it a show i'm afraid it's going to be weird :( what are your thoughts?

honestly i am and i’m not. i’m glad something i’ve loved for so long is getting the attention it deserves and is being handled by someone who clearly holds it very dear to her heart as well. lauren hissrich is honestly the best choice made for the whole show and she isn’t even on screen. i’ve admired her for a long time, and her skill as a producer truly shows, what with shows like the umbrella academy and daredevil as well as many other netflix originals under her belt. she also wrote a few episodes for aforementioned productions, so i have no doubt that she will excel as a writer, producer, and as the showrunner. 

i’m just going to come out and say it : i fucking hate henry cavil as geralt.

setting aside the problematic issues for now (which is all super fucking terrible and fills me with rage), here are a few things i know. he is a very talented actor. setting aside the hot dumpster fire that was justice league and batman v superman, i have no doubt that he is an extremely talented actor. he has a prior love for both the books and the witcher 3 ( the only great witcher game in my opinion, seeing as it at least tries to redeem the butchery CDPR did to triss’ character for the sake of sex appeal ) and as someone who has an extensive past in performing i know your performance is 1000% better if you are passionate about what you’re doing.

i also know a big part of why he was cast is because of who he is.

i’ve yet to see his audition tapes, and i’m sure a lot of the casting director’s choice was based on his skills as an actor. but i also know its, at least in part, because of the interview he gave with IGN when he said he wanted the role. part of the reason he got the role is to draw in more viewers. netflix, and especially lauren, really want the show to succeed. having a big name like henry’s draws people in. as much as i would’ve loved a relatively unknown actor like alexander dreymon or zach mcgowan or anson mount (not that they aren’t known in their own right, but they weren’t cast as superman) or even someone i’ve never heard of to take the role of geralt, having henry’s name attached to the project guarantees more views, people who stan henry and will watch everything he’s in, even if they’ve never heard of it.

i’m not gonna talk about yen and anya because i don’t know enough about anya to judge her. all i’m going to say is that i’m going to reserve all judgment until i see some footage of her as yen. 

so. ciri. i’m not going to include my version of ciri i’ve written here seeing as that ciri is very different from the one in both the books and the games. honestly, i’m excited to see freya as ciri. i’ve only seen a few clips of her in into the badlands but she definitely has both the talent and the potential to grow into a great actress. i can’t wait for photos of her in costume to be released. 

overall, yes, i am excited. i’m excited for lauren to have such creative freedom,, i’m excited to see all the wolf boys i’ve grown to hold near and dear in my heart. i’m excited to see ciri and yen and their relationship. but i’m also wary of all these same things. i’m wary because i hold them so near and dear to my heart, and have for years now. i know that i want them to be absolutely perfect, which is impossible to obtain because perfection is both unachievable and subjective depending on the person. 

all we can do it wait until both official trailers and the show comes out to see what netflix and lauren have done.

[hialipopa1989-blog]

Had a lot of Belgium rock bands, De Winne says. Like good rock music. The time of his 2009 flight, cassettes, records, and even CDs, had been superseded by MP3s. She flirted with the bartender for weeks. She intentionally didn invite you to an event where significant others were invited. She invited him to a house she knew was empty to have sex. Hi there, 30 year old American woman here! Sometimes being on the internet makes me feel sad and jaded, but then posts like this remind me how cool Reddit and the internet in general can be. I love that I had no idea you existed till a minute ago, and we grew up in vastly different countries speaking different languages with our families, and yet now I get to say "hi" from across the world. Never stop learning, Muhammed :) It's one of the best things we can do with our time!. He is going to retire, and Gilbert is to take over his practice. Dr. Blythe is going to keep his house, though, so we shall have to find a habitation for ourselves. Especially when your card collection is losing value daily at terryfing rate it creates the barrier for people that could be interested in trying out the game or for current players to keep the collection, because your 60, 100, 150, 200, 300 dollar investment (based on the time of buy in) may soon be worth nothing.Lohanni 6 points submitted 20 days agoCard games are difficult territory 부여출장안마 and after Gwents example Valve could anticipate that it will not be a cup of tea to make a profitable card game. Regarding Artifact, currently there are more than 95% of initial playerbase gone and there is basicly no response, so I would say that CDPR manouever with reworking the game was kindof a success, they cut the bleeding and the game is in its best shape right now so I don really get what your point is, my dear friend. I really hope that Valve will do the same, do some reworking, reinvent the monetization and do a new launch ceremony for the game, probabbly with Artifact TI announcement. The 16th birthday party was very early on the show and that's an example of the inconsistencies in the show in later seasons it's stated that he's been to all her birthday parties. And Lorelai says multiple times throughout the show that Luke has been like a father figure to Rory. He did more than just parties and errands, he's always coming to their rescue and helping 부여출장안마 out. Arnold, in two services (US Army then later in the US Air Force). As part of the bicentennial celebration, George Washington was, 177 years after his death, permanently made senior to all other US generals and admirals with the title General of the Armies effective on 4 July 1976. The appointment stated he was to have "rank and precedence over all other grades of the Army, past or present".[nb 3]During World War II and (later) serving NATO, a small number of American five star commanders have also held the additional title of Supreme Allied Commander, given operational control over all air, land, and sea units led by the four star commanders of multi national forces.. So, let get the obvious out of the way: stop being a dick. Like seriously, your sarcasm isn cute. Your condescending tone just wreaks of a need to put others down to inflate some fictitious sense of superiority. I was intending to coast on this job while focusing on finding something stable with my degree that would also allow me to earn my Bachelors in time. The store I am at now is so badly run and has so many problems, it makes me miserable to go in every day. I am a bit afraid of some of the jobs I am just blasting out applications to, but none of them can be much worse than where I am at now.

[qguardian]

While I am obviously excited for more Witcher games, this announcement carries the sadness and defeat I was afraid would happen after the mishandling of Cyberpunk.

CDPR is not a big company, so the disaster of pushing out Cyberpunk too early crippled the company. The developers were so excited for that game, and they wanted to make things other than witcher games. But time and corporate greed worked against them.

And now we have this. Moving to Unreal Engine? A collab of Epic games? Says they need to develop as cheap as possible, and move towards a formula that is more generic. Honestly, the only silver lining is that they aren’t being acquired by Epic but I wouldn’t say that is out of the cards.

I genuinely hope I am wrong, but how this announcement reads to me is “Alright people like Witcher, and investors are not going to let us take another crack at making something not related to that IP again, so we found a big company willing to help us move towards being cheap and generic to feed the fans who just want more of the Witcher IP while losing what made Witcher 3 special to begin with. Be excited this isn’t an acquisition. See you in 2-4 years.”

“We’re happy to announce that the next installment in The Witcher series of video games is currently in development, kicking off a new saga for the franchise.

This is an exciting moment as we’re moving from REDengine to Unreal Engine 5, beginning a multi-year strategic partnership with Epic Games. It covers not only licensing, but technical development of Unreal Engine 5, as well as potential future versions of Unreal Engine, where relevant. We’ll closely collaborate with Epic Games’ developers with the primary goal being to help tailor the engine for open-world experiences.

At this point, no further details regarding the game — such as a development time frame or release date — are available.” - CD Projekt Red

[daniloqp]

Stop putting pressure on developers to launch games on the market

Stop putting pressure on developers to launch games on the market

https://theministerofcapitalism.com/blog/stop-putting-pressure-on-developers-to-launch-games-on-the-market/

If you have been anywhere near the internet in the last few days, you’ve probably heard of a sequel The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Nintendo released a 1.5-minute trailer for the game during last week’s E3 and as soon as it hit, everyone came in Twitter he seemed to be talking about exactly the same thing. Players immediately began choosing each scene to get clues and discuss what they might mean. It was fun and then it was over. This is the problem with Buzz. Once finished, there is nothing to do but cool your heels until the game is over.

This is what, however, is that patience is a virtue. Players must learn to wait.

The industry’s worst-kept secret is that AAA titles are often shipped unfinished. There’s a reason the first day’s patches are one thing: these games are so massive that there are literally not enough hours a day to fix everything that needs fixing. That’s also why crunch it has become the rule, rather than the exception, in the development of the game. (It is so common that the 40 – hour work week of the Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart development team it became news.)

Players need to reduce the pressure on studios to offer perfect a la carte titles. It’s okay to have massive expectations for AAA games, but developers shouldn’t be afraid of Twitter’s wrath just because they have to roll back a release date.

A few days ago I realized it was part of the problem as I regretted the gap between Horizon Zero Dawn i Horizon Forbidden West. It’s been more than four years since the first one came out, and while the sequel is slated for this year, the release date isn’t set. But even if there is a five-year interval between them, it’s okay. A great 50 hour experience with no problems it should take so long to create. I’d rather wait a single presidential term to get a solid sequel than get one every two years that is faller and faller. A game can come quickly or it can come intact, it can’t be had in both directions.

Don’t you agree with me? Let’s look at a counterpoint: the Assassin’s Creed series. Each installment is a great open world game with countless side missions that can take hundreds of hours to complete. They arrive about every two years, and often when they do they are an absolute mess. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla had one game-breaking bug which took five months to fix. Not only that, the gameplay made no sense. A game with a well-written story and clear, defined goals is much better than a game that is long just because people expect it to be long. Another example? Ciberpunk 2077. CDPR developers he received death threats when that game was delayed and in the end they threw a game which he was clearly not prepared for. Yeah yeah is a disappointment when studies delay games or there is a massive gap between versions, but in either case a delay would have been better than what finally happened.

I’m not saying this culture is entirely the fault of the players – top-tier studios have a lot of money and have the power to set expectations. But it’s not an innovative revelation to say that fan law is a big issue in this industry, and perhaps learning patience would help the gaming culture as a whole. If everyone is fed up with buggy game releases, and me for example a lot Tired of launching buggy games, it’s up to us to learn to be vigilant to get better ones. It’s not like there isn’t a giant accumulation of titles to play while you wait.

Bigger cable stories

Source link

[gayregis]

I love your thoughts and opinions so so so much. It’s nice to see someone being thoughtful and critical about issues that come up within the fandom so often. I know a lot of people don’t like seeing things they enjoy criticized, but your perspectives are very refreshing.

thank you 😭😭 i sometimes feel annoying / get criticized for having a lot of critique like this but i feel like to have a healthy relaitonship with the media you consume is to be open to criticizing it and saying “yeah that part sucked and added nothing to the story,” “yeah this adaptation sucked and ruined the messages,” “let’s dissect the meaning of the story and its ending and figure out what the author is trying to argue here.”

in my opinion every (good) fiction story is an argument disguised as a non-argument, it’s up to the readers to decipher what the author’s message and meaning is in it. and if they disagree with the argument they should form an opinion and rebuttal. and if there is no argument or the argument was misrepresented through a poor adaptation, the fans should rightfully be upset because that argument was important to why they like the series.

when i criticize the witcher and any other media that i like (because i do this in whatever fandom im in) it’s really from a place of caring deeply about what is being represented and how people are engaging with it. i’m not here to police other fans, that’s stupid, but i think creators have a responsibility to not produce junk that influences people in a poor way.

as well as for the minor things like preferences over characters, i just find it fun to explain why i like or dislike a certain character/scene and why, or how you interpret certain characters/scenes with deeper meaning and symbolism. it’s fun to post your opinions about things because some people will agree and some people will disagree and then you get into a conversation about it. some people find things in scenes that you would have never even considered because they have a different worldview than you

and sometimes i just like to critique stuff because i genuinely just dislike it or hate it and there’s not that much deeper meaning to it. like regis’ hairline in blood and wine. why did cdpr have to do that to him? it looks terrible.

again thank you though because sometimes i get self-concious and i feel bad because i feel like i’m being really negative while everyone else can manage to like stuff without voicing a negative opinion. but i think that sometimes others are scared to voice negative opinions because they just want to go with the flow and fit in with the rest of the group who agree with them, no one wants to stand out and be known as a bitch. i used to feel like this a lot but i was inspired by others in other communities to not be afraid to speak up and be a bitch if i feel like it! it’s not a bad thing to have a negative opinion, as long as you don’t harass others for not sharing your opinion.