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Story spoiler thread.

Carrion

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Dude is amazing commander. Dude fucked up rest of the kingdoms and united them. Even main Emhyr commander tells you that dude is amazing.
They don't explore this aspect at all after your first discussion with ambassador Var Attre. For the rest of the game they only show Radovid's negative aspects, and according to the ending slides Radovid winning the war is clearly the worst choice, much worse than Nilfgaard's victory or Dijkstra taking over. Whether or not you're an SJW has nothing to do with it, as the game obviously keeps on trying to hammer home the fact that Radovid is totally bonkers, rotten to the core and unfit to rule, making the Northern Kingdoms a shitty place for everyone.
 

ghostdog

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I chose neutrality (=Dijkstra). Frankly I never really liked Roche, even if he was a bro and helped with Kaer Mohren. He is always Temeria this, Temeria that, all serious and shit. Ves is there just for boobs and the only interesting character was Thaler. But Djikstra is more interesting than Thaler. Also that shitty treaty with Nilfgaard was a chickenshit cop-out. Frankly as far as the games go (and a bit the books), Temeria is the one that basically fucks things up, with Foltest's completely moronic wars with his mistress, instead of preparing for Nilfgaard. The guy's cock was the true ruler of Temeria. I mean Foltest was generally a fun dude, but if Roche really loved his country, assassinating him before he completely fucked up would have been the best course.

If you choose Djikstra, the Northern kingdoms stop the advance of Nilfgaard and they prosper since he allows magic and science to be used freely again.
In my playthrough I also got Ciri to decline the throne and go on her own way witchering, and as a result the Emhyr was eventually asassinated by his internal enemies.

But yeah, all and all Djisktra vs Roche and co was a shitty choice and it didn't really stick with the context.
 

Paul_cz

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Dijkstra's last 5 minutes on scene are my only significant problem with the game story-wise, and frankly I wouldn't mind if they completely retconned it in some expansion. It was really stupid.
 

Neanderthal

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I kept my Witcher neutrality and told Djikstra, Thaler and Roche to fuck off, part of the reason was that i'd just had a lesson in how Kingslayers are rewarded from Letho, and had a previous lesson when playing soldier boy for Foltest. Only thing i was bothered about was Ciri, Yen and fellow Witchers. Don't care who rules north, twenty five to fifty years and they'll be dead while Geralt'll still be on the path.
 

Perkel

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If you don't get involved Djikstra wins the fight.

If you don't get involved Dijkistra doesn't even try to win a fight. Radovid wins. I know because in my playtrough i said to him gtfo with his stupid ideas. Why would i want to kill best king of them all ?
 
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RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In
Dijkstra > Emhyr > Radovid

Dijkstra
-Bro
-Doesn't prosecute people for no reason
-Great style
-Plays Gwent, focuses on the game, gives out rare cards
-Intelligent
-Man of the people

Radovid
-Sells Geralt to Nilfgaard in Witcher 2
-Tries to kill all of his friends
-supports religious fanatics
-dresses like some beggar pretending to be a king
-plays chess, but only with himself, cares more about talking to his pieces than about actual game
-old
-crazy
-obsessed with some whore nobody cares about

I mean, is there one thing Radovid does Dijkstra doesn't do better?
 

laclongquan

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Look, a leader of a small country impale some (hell, lots of) enemies soldiers and next century they label him an immortal monster.
I speak, of course, of Dracul, the national hero of Hungary/Romany. He's leader of small nation to stand against the mighty power of Ottoman empire, and impaling is not a rare treatment for them at the time. Totally off the wall for Europeans of course, but not that rare for Romania and Ottoman empire.

Meaning, atrocity is atrocity~ You do the deed, you pay the price~
 
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@laclongquan
Except radovid wasn't persecuting some sandniggers from other countries. He was persecuting wizards from his own country. It's an equivalent of a ruler suddenly deciding that wee need to kill all programmers because some programmer girl was mean to him when he was a kid.
 

Perkel

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Dijkstra > Emhyr > Radovid

Dijkstra
-Bro
-Doesn't prosecute people for no reason
-Great style
-Plays Gwent, focuses on the game, gives out rare cards
-Intelligent
-Man of the people

Radovid
-Sells Geralt to Nilfgaard in Witcher 2
-Tries to kill all of his friends
-supports religious fanatics
-dresses like some beggar pretending to be a king
-plays chess, but only with himself, cares more about talking to his pieces than about actual game
-old
-crazy
-obsessed with some whore nobody cares about

I mean, is there one thing Radovid does Dijkstra doesn't do better?

Dijkstra.

- Tried to kidnap Ciri and imprison Yennefer possibly torture her to get to Ciri.
- Was head of intelligence and almost got killed by Filippa, then he was degraded by Radovid.
- Works underworld. He deals with prostitution, murder and so on like every crime boss ever and he loves it.
- His "mighty Redania" falled like house from cards when Nilfgard assasinated Vesemir he got demoted and said "fuck off". "His" redania never was strong as Radovid redania. Nor that redania had ability to conquer all of north using situation like this.

Radovid.

- Realist like Dijkistra. He tolerated mages like everyone else in his youth (filippa was his mentor) but after thanned everything changed when rulers realized that mages are simply to important chees piece to not give a fuck about it. So either slay them or use them. Use them flew out after Radovid got almost killed in Loc Muine where plan of lodge backfired on them and second war with nilfgard started.
So big hunt for mages by radovid is mainly thank you letter to lodge and awesome way to rile up people to war against nilfgard as mages ARE traitors to northern realms. Non associated mages simply got short end of stick.
- Dude united as first ruller ever north and managed to stop completely advances of nilfgard aka the most powerful empire in that world and if he lives he wins the war and emhyr is dead.


Mages got what they deserved. Their assotiation sold themselves to Nilfgard. Even after that they were not hunted (aside from few people). Only after Loc Muine incident Radovid started hunt because in that incident new association of mages almost got him and other rulers killed.

Elves and dwarves got their part because:

- great way to rile up people
- because everybody remembers that scoiatel commandos worked for nilfgard


@laclongquan
Except radovid wasn't persecuting some sandniggers from other countries. He was persecuting wizards from his own country. It's an equivalent of a ruler suddenly deciding that wee need to kill all programmers because some programmer girl was mean to him when he was a kid.

More like ruler who decided he doesn't want to deal with some mercenarry band he can't be sure that won't attack him. Remember that mages twice were traitors and one mage can bust huge hole in defense walls of castle.
 
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RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In
Dijkstra.

- Tried to kidnap Ciri and imprison Yennefer possibly torture her to get to Ciri.
- Was head of intelligence and almost got killed by Filippa, then he was degraded by Radovid.
- Works underworld. He deals with prostitution, murder and so on like every crime boss ever and he loves it.
- His "mighty Redania" falled like house from cards when Nilfgard assasinated Vesemir he got demoted and said "fuck off". "His" redania never was strong as Radovid redania. Nor that redania had ability to conquer all of north using situation like this.

Either shit from the past nobody sane should care about, or things out of his control. Sure Radania of the past was weaker but Redania of the future is much stronger with Dijkstra in charge, since he is intelligent, rational and not actually batshit insane. Still, all faults pale in comparison to Radovids being a crazy, genocidal psycho. And Radovid being crazy is a speculation, it's how he's presented in the game.

Radovid.

- Realist like Dijkistra. He tolerated mages like everyone else in his youth (filippa was his mentor) but after thanned everything changed when rulers realized that mages are simply to important chees piece to not give a fuck about it. So either slay them or use them. Use them flew out after Radovid got almost killed in Loc Muine where plan of lodge backfired on them and second war with nilfgard started.
So big hunt for mages by radovid is mainly thank you letter to lodge and awesome way to rile up people to war against nilfgard as mages ARE traitors to northern realms. Non associated mages simply got short end of stick.

Except he doesn't even form the lodge unless practically forced by Triss at the end of The Witcher 2. If things went his way he would kill all the mages. Which is as rational as killing everyone who carries a crossbow because you someone shot you with crossbow once. Dijsktra was better ruler simply by helping stopping Radovid's pointless crusade.

- Dude united as first ruller ever north and managed to stop completely advances of nilfgard aka the most powerful empire in that world and if he lives he wins the war and emhyr is dead.

If he dies Dijkstra achieves just as much and leads the North into golden future free of Taliban and insane kings. Dijsktra is just a better choice. People might be butthurt about him being fat or ugly, but he's practically Radovid - Crazy. How is that a hard choice?

Mages got what they deserved. Their assotiation sold themselves to Nilfgard. Even after that they were not hunted (aside from few people). Only after Loc Muine incident Radovid started hunt because in that incident new association of mages almost got him and other rulers killed.

Some mages were affiliated with Nilfgaard, many weren't.

Elves and dwarves got their part because:
- great way to rile up people
- because everybody remembers that scoiatel commandos worked for nilfgard

And everyone who played the games remember that majority of Elves and Dwarves weren't associated with Squirrels, and persecuting everyone for this is only something and insane tyrant would do. Which is again, why Dijsktra is a better choice. Radovid might be immortal, omnipotent Titan, but as long as he's fueled by hate and crazy Dijsktra is objectively a better choice. It's not even something I speculate. It's what games tells you will happen. At this point we may as well argue if Temmerian Armor is better than endgame gear.



More like ruler who decided he doesn't want to deal with some mercenarry band he can't be sure that won't attack him. Remember that mages twice were traitors and one mage can bust huge hole in defense walls of castle.

You can say that against every group of people out there. Should he also prosecute blacksmiths? I'm sure I've seen some blacksmiths working for Nilfgaard in The Witcher 3!
 

Neanderthal

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Not a big historian or owt but weren't there some medieval kings who'd make Radovid look saintly by comparison, and yet were successful, well regarded and strengthened their kingdoms? Hang witches, execute lycanthropes, crusade against heretics, banish jews, slaughter the leaders of peasant revolts, unite their countries by conquest, harrow the north and do all sorts of other crazy shit.

I mean i'm not saying Radovid's an angel or owt but he seems like a man of his time, no better or worse, and a proven military commander which Djikstra wasn't.

Mind you means fuck all to my Geralt, doesn't give a shit who rules and doesn't get involved in any of this shit, learned his lesson.
 

Neanderthal

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He took over Kaedwen double quick, and everybody in the game admits that he is a military genius, after all he stopped Nilfgaard at the Pontar when Temeria and Aedirn were just swept aside. The Temerian forces were led by John Natalis as well, supposedly one of the greatest commanders of the north. Djikstra is unproven, Radovid isn't, I wouldn't base a decision in game on ending slides but on what my character knows.

Nilfgaard has been steadily gobbling up land and not retreating for years now, Cintra fell and was never retaken, they suffered losses at Sodden and Brenna, but this did not gain back all the land they'd taken. In the third war they might have overstretched themselves, and i'd tend to agree with that, if I were Emhyr i'd have settled for gaining access to the Pontar. Half o north gone is a good result for a single campaign.
 

Perkel

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Arguing that Radovid is actually sane and a great leader is really worthy of a /pol

more like arguing about ruler choice of hairstyle talking of his military ability (because hunt for mages and non humans is small part of his rule)

Dude managed to unite north, stop Nilfgard (which is vastly bigger than united north), he rused people on mages and non humans to to find common goal between kedweeni, temerians, aedirns instead of fighting civil wars (due to conquests).
Meanwhile Dijkistra shat his pants when Nilfgard assasinated Vesemir, got outed from ruler position (he ruled for a while with Phillipa in shadows) and started to play crimejoke lord. In the end Radovid hold everyone by balls via Whoreson Junior.
If you kill Radovid, Dijkstra only uses what Radovid build and only reason he is successful is because Radovid build for him strong nation.

Without Radovid there would be no north to speak of but Nilfgardian provinces.
Also if he lives he wins the war taking back huge part of north and his status ensure peace for a long time unlike dijkstra who doesn't have royal blood.
 
Last edited:

VentilatorOfDoom

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Vizimir was killed by an assassin. It is never directly mentioned who was behind the murder, i.e. who hired the assassin. There are hints in the books that either blame Nilfgaard or Eilhart. It's known though that when Dijkstra mentioned to Philippa that he was on the trail of those responsible for Vizimir's murder, Philippa sent assassins after him and he had to go into hiding.
 

Neanderthal

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Yeah fled to end o world wi Isengrim and what's his mush...i'm coming up with Boreas Munn, but I think i'm wrong. That's way I read it though, he mentioned that he was close to finding Vesemir's killer only to Philippa and next thing's getting a steel enema.

I always thought idea of them three coming back to north was genesis of plot for Assassins, Djikstra - Letho, Isengrim - Iorveth, Munn - Roche.
 
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I mean i'm not saying Radovid's an angel or owt but he seems like a man of his time, no better or worse, and a proven military commander which Djikstra wasn't.

He was, he won the fucking war, which without him or Radovid would be certainly lost, it's in the fucking game. Do people who argue for Radovid even play the games? Yes, Radovid is better than no king, he's also inferior to Dijkstra because Dijkstra is exactly that (genius who rules the North and fends of Nilfgaard) but without all that unnecessary prosecution.

more like arguing about ruler choice of hairstyle talking of his military ability (because hunt for mages and non humans is small part of his rule)
If you kill Radovid, Dijkstra only uses what Radovid build and only reason he is successful is because Radovid build for him strong nation.

This is bullshit as verified by the games themselves. If it was true North would win without Dijkstra or Radovid alive. One of them however have to be alive which proves that it was he who won the war and not only Radovid's earlier successes. You could argue that without Geralt Dijskstra would be unable to sieze power, but without Geralt Radovid would be burned to crisp at Loc Muinne.
 

Neanderthal

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He was, he won the fucking war, which without him or Radovid would be certainly lost, it's in the fucking game. Do people who argue for Radovid even play the games? Yes, Radovid is better than no king, he's also inferior to Dijkstra because Dijkstra is exactly that (genius who rules the North and fends of Nilfgaard) but without all that unnecessary prosecution.

Yeah but as I said when playing you can't know that Djikstra is competent militarily, he's unproven before the ending slides. Then again it's a singleplayer game feel free to metagame. Having an enemy and a bogeyman is sometimes a very good thing, especially for feudal nations whose lower classes are basically slaves, blame everything on the non humans or mages and you've got a good excuse for your own failings and redirecting the mobs anger, without hurting necessary infrastructure.

I'd personally prefer a ruler like Sigismund, but I can see why many'd plump for Radovid, then again as i've said my Witcher didn't give a shit who ruled.
 

Frozen

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Vizimir was killed by an assassin. It is never directly mentioned who was behind the murder, i.e. who hired the assassin. There are hints in the books that either blame Nilfgaard or Eilhart. It's known though that when Dijkstra mentioned to Philippa that he was on the trail of those responsible for Vizimir's murder, Philippa sent assassins after him and he had to go into hiding.

It is also never directly mentioned that it was Philippa that sent assassins after Dijkstra. He thinks she did. The books imply she did do booth but it could be Nilfgaard.
 

VentilatorOfDoom

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Did you kill the cat witcher or not? I let him go, because I figured he just flipped out when the villager stabbed him in the back trying to murder him to save 12 gold. Twelve whopping gold.
 

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