The Wild Hunt: Retirement

[Part of the Wild Hunt story]

With the Hunt destroyed and no tactical genius like Radovid to oppose them, Nilfgaard conquered the rest of the Continent, apart from the vassal state of Temeria which Ves and Vernon fought so hard for. Having realized his vision the Emperor did as he had initially promised, and abdicated his throne to his daughter - Ciri.

You mean I have to wear more fancy shirts?

Thanks to her, the Skellige Isles too were left alone and prospered under Queen Cerys, who stopped their raiding ways. Meanwhile Zoltan helped Dandelion run his new cabaret at Novigrad and Letho surprisingly inherited Kaer Morhen which presented an opportunity for rebuilding his school of the viper there. As for Geralt, he and Yen eventually retired far away to a place of solitude to live out their days together in happiness. 

Of course, this doesn't mean they never saw Ciri again, for the girl could teleport to anywhere at will and on occasion would sneak out to play Gwent with the White Wolf, much to the annoyance of her handlers.

Insight: As expected, this is but one of multiple endings to this game. It's great when your choices matter!

The Wild Hunt: Conjunction

[Part of the Wild Hunt story]

With Radovid out of the way, Nilfgaard turned its attention directly to Skellige. Among their massive armada sailed Geralt and company, with an Emperor approved plan to lure the Wild Hunt into battle for one final confrontation.

As Avallac'h expected, they took the magical bait and arrived right into the prison dome maintained by the lodge sorceresses where Geralt, Ciri, and the Nilfgaard army ambushed them. Not one to sit out of a fight, the Skellige fleet also arrived with Crach and Hjalmar at the helm.

None could match the King of the Hunt though, with even Crach falling victim to his blade. Unfortunately for him, the White Wolf's reflexes were better than his magic and the witcher avenged his fallen friend with style.

His death did not end the threats though, as their arrival had begun another Conjuction of Spheres - where the gateway to other worlds opened to let numerous creatures teleport in. The worst of these was the White Frost, a world killing magical storm who prophecy claimed could only be defeated by a child of the elder blood. Ciri.

So this is what it's like inside a snow globe...

Having been trained by Avallac'h for exactly this purpose, Ciri stepped through a gateway to face this unstoppable threat... and won.

Insight: The King of the Hunt is a pansy compared to his generals. Just dodge often and igni his frost armor off to deal some good damage.

The Wild Hunt: Bears

[Part of the Wild Hunt story]

While the feast starts off as a normal rambunctious affair it quickly sours when a number of guests suddenly shift into bears and slaughter all but three candidates for the crown before Geralt can put them down.

Fighting without gear was the only way Geralt could give the bears a chance.

Hjalmar immediately decides to hunt down the bear related clansmen but the witcher opts to stay and assist Cerys in actually investigating the crime scene, discovering that those that transformed were actually poisoned to do so by the mother of the third contender and son of the previous King.

The guilty party is arrested and for her intellect Cerys is voted the first ever Queen of Skellige. During the coronation celebration, the witcher unexpectedly finds another trail to follow on his hunt for Ciri. That of a hideous man creature he and Yen previously heard about.

One of the Jarl's actually knew of such a monster, having sold the misshapen tyke to the Continent to a trader who worked for the Bloody Baron.

Insight: While it's fun to aim the crossbow by holding the button down, it's often more useful to just tap the button which will let Geralt auto aim and fire at the nearest enemy.

The Wild Hunt: Kingmaker

[Part of the Wild Hunt story]

With Yen returning to Vzima to report to the Emperor, the White Wolf decided to remain in Skellige for some witcher's work - freeing a cursed gladiator spirit by letting it win, appeasing an ancient leshen to protect a village, and destroying a regenerating werewolf by forcing it to eat itself.

On his travels he also aids the children of Crach who, like many others, were off trying to accomplish heroic deeds in hopes to be crowned the next King of the isles.

Crach's daughter, Cerys, didn't need much help while trying to cure a neighboring Jarl of a demon possession. In comparison, his son Hjalmar took an entire boat load of warriors to a monster inhabited isle and lost almost all of them. Geralt was hard pressed to save the hot head prince, Folan the archer and Vigi the Fool from certain death.

Only someone named "the Fool" would wake an Ice Giant.

Crach is overjoyed at this, and allows Geralt to attend the election feast that follows.

Insight: While none of the horse racers in Skellige are that good, their fist fighters and duelists are fantastic. Make use of small dodges for the former to strike while they are open and counters for the latter. In both, don't just attack like crazy or you will regret it.

The Wild Hunt: Djinn

[Part of the Wild Hunt story]

Geralt found sharing the small skiff with Yen to be quite pleasant. Just the two of them, sailing out in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't without purpose however, for Yennefer did have a destination in mind - a shipwreck that she deduced was the home of a djinn.

One of the more dangerous fights in the game.

After a difficult battle, the pair managed to capture the air spirit with Yen making but one wish before letting it go: To undo Geralt's last wish made with a previous djinn, a wish that the two of them would always be together.

The creature accepted before flying off, leaving the two wondering why their feelings for each other remained despite having their magical link removed. It doesn't take long for them to realize that the magic of true love is much stronger than any wish, and they share a kiss while watching the sun rise.

Insight: Uh, you probably could have used the djinn to... I don't know... destroy the Wild Hunt, find Ciri, and win the game but sure - lets use it to resolve feelings instead. Be sure to prep for this fight though, it's one of the hardest you will face!

The Wild Hunt: Outlander

[Part of the Wild Hunt story]

By the time Geralt returned to Novigrad, his beard had grown too much for his liking so he had it shaved clean before finally deciding to the Skellige isles and meet up with Yennefer. The one ship willing to take him didn't fare well in the crossing, but all things considered, the witcher arrived in one piece on the isles - just in time to join Yen for the King's funeral.

Those "birds" are actually sirens!

The sorceress hadn't managed to investigate Ciri's whereabouts as thoroughly as she liked, having been hindered by the druids led by Ermion in these parts despite permission from Crach an Craite, jarl of the largest village and Geralt's friend.

In fact most of the locals treat them coldly, mainly due to them being outlanders from the Continent. Tired of trying to be nice, the pair instead use guile - stealing an artifact from the druids and desecrating one of their sacred sites to search for Ciri. Unfortunately her trail ends up vanishing into the cold, wide sea once more.

Insight: I mentioned this in the last post but just so it's clear - drowners and sirens are "weaker" underwater because the crossbow is overpowered while swimming. Especially for sirens (who can fly in this game) that attack while you are on a tiny boat, it's often better to just dive into the sea and wait for them to go into "swim mode" and shoot them there.  

The Wild Hunt: Doppler

[Part of the Wild Hunt story]

Needing something other than Dijkstra's offer to think about, Geralt looks for the doppler Dudu who is believed to be in hiding within Novigrad. While it takes a lot of leg work, it isn't actually difficult to find him and get his help in freeing Dandelion. Dudu simply has to look like the Eternal Fire boss Triss immolated, bark some orders, and the bard is freed.

Dandelion is overjoyed at his rescue, but informs Geralt that Ciri had teleported herself out of Novigrad during his capture. Since Geralt's searched most of the mainland, odds are Ciri has gone to Skellige island - which is where Yen is looking.

Somewhat relieved, Geralt decides to take it easy for a bit - helping his friend Zoltan get out of debt from Bedlam by tracking down collectors edition Gwent cards, Dandelion in setting up his new cabaret club, and an elf cook in regaining sword making privileges from Cleaver which earns the witcher a master blade, all while hunting down a mass murderer on the side.

Ugh, I'm terrible at this game!

Insight: Gwent is a fun card game you can play at numerous locations. If you are serious about winning though, you will need to make sure to buy new cards when you come across them and most importantly keep your deck thin by replacing out the weaker cards!