Hey guys,
I was just wondering, and I hope I can get a full discussion going here, what path and decisions do you think will be "standard" in Witcher 3, when it's released? Say you start a new game, no imports, what path, choices, etc. will the devs have chosen for you to start off with? Seeing as there was no "neutral" path in Witcher 2 (unlike Witcher 1), it should be interesting to see what choices the devs have decided to be canon.
Cheers,
Younghappy :)

First of all, I guess considering where Geralt is going at the end of TW2 (no spoilers) the exact effect his actions bore on the political arena of the North won't matter as much, and I'm personally expecting a much more personal story in the third part.

That being said, if I were to take a guess, I'd consider the path that screws the North over for the oncoming invasion the most as canonical. This way players loading up past saves (and I bet this will be available as an option) will have the option to see how their decisions impacted the world by helping those they sided with. Just as with the Order of the Rose in TW2 - if you liked Siegrfiried enough to side with him in TW2 you'd get a chance to meet him again in TW2. That being said some choices might be just a flavour - no matter what happened to the princess in TW1, Henselt found both results leading him to invade the LaValette castle.

As far as Geralt's personal choices (since TW2 is mainly about political vs personal choice when you biol it down to major decisions) I'd expect Triss to be present, but their relationship strained at best, considering who Geralt is searching for in TW3. I guess the final choice concerning the White Wolf's future will come in TW3 no matter what path TW2 was chosen.

I think that, in order to allow the players to build up a rapport with Yennefer, CDProjekt needs to split the Witcher 3 into two separate stories. One is set in the present, with Geralt dealing with the fallout from Witcher 2 and continuing his adventures with Triss and his friends as normal, and one that's set in the past, with Geralt still with Yennefer.

As it stands, a player who's come from the first two games, but never read the novels, has a great deal of history with Triss, but to whom Yennefer is a complete stranger. It would be a no brainer to choose Triss over Yennefer, because I have not seen the relationship shared between the two. If TW3 allows us to see how Geralt loved Yennefer via a series of flashback arcs (represented by Geralt slowly regaining his memories), it would make the choice a lot more meaningful.

This may also apply to people who played games and read books...

Personally, I see The Witcher as two separate stories, one that evolves in books, and in there Geralt is someone else, and one that evolves in games, where I am Geralt.

My own Geralt likes Triss (for better or worst) and like you have said, has no real emotional value attached to Yennefer (regardless of the fact that I read the books and watched the movies). I would certainly like to see enough freedom in TW3 to be able to explore both options in a satisfactory details.

I suppose this does bring forward the observation made here in the past about Shani not being available in Witcher 2, because she was never really important, well, she is important to those who find her important and if the developers want us to get emotionally involved with their games they need to make sure that they handle such situations with a certain degree of flexibility.

It is heavily hinted in at least two instances in the game's final dialogues that Geralt is heading south, to Nilfgaard, to find Yennefer. My guess is that the Prologue of TW3 and maybe the first chapter will be set on the way to Nilfgaard (battlefields, newly conquered territories), where we will see the consequences of most decisions we made in TW2. The following chapters will most likely be totally disconnected from anything that transpires in the North. That is because there are simply too many permutations regarding all the decisions in TW2 for the developers to incorporate each and every one of them, and I don't think they'll choose one canon playthrough and build TW3 from that. In TW2, choices from TW1 were seen mostly from character cameos and incidental dialogue lines, so it can be expected that TW3 will be roughly the same, which is perfectly understandable.

If we're just talking about slate canon here (IE, no loaded save) it is hard to know which side will be chosen. While I certainly don't like to take many cues from this series, the way Mass Effect does save loads allows for freedom without having to play the first game. I would hope you at least get to choose: Vernon or Iorveth, rather than having that forced upon you. Both lead to valid choices (Vernon's side is the most involving in Act 2, Iorveth's only in Act 3) and eliminated the usual towing of the line in the games.

As for the other decisions, they would be the most non-violent. Aryan La Vallete surrenders, Geralt helps Iorveth (Act 1, giving the sword; Act 2, saving him in Vergen), save women (Iorveth's path), spare Henselt (Vernon's path), save Triss, don't kill the dragon (no cure, no kill), and.... I'm not sure what they'd do with Letho. I personally let him go the first time, and I can't be the only one. I imagine though that, since he's the big boss, most would have killed him.

I hope that all of our major decisions catch up with us in some way, rather than being whitewashed like some in TW1 (and some even in TW2!). Of course I want to meet new characters and explore new horizons, but I hope for what we've done to send echoes through Geralt's world, even if the end result isn't immediately perceptible. The political quagmire we left is brewing, and to see the results could mean a lot for us in the future in terms of the locations we visit.

As for where he's off to, I'd wager to say Vengerberg which was apparently the home of Yennefer in life. Of course, I think we all fully expect that it won't be as easy as checking in, likely harder of entry than Vizima. The King's place is unoccupied though, so who knows? This would also be a truly new area of the world to explore, in the midst of justifiably unrestful times. That would be my guess as to an eventual location, anyways.

may also be a possible location, being both the home of Letho and the place where Dandelion and Geralt first met. It would be the bard's poetic duty to meet him there! If you'd like to have a more general speculation, I suggest looking at [url=http://witcher2.hu/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Northernkingdoms_full.jpg]this map. Follow down from Vergen (near the middle right) southwards. Other locations include Rivia and Aldersberg.

Iorveth's path. I say this because Iorveth's path is very Triss-centric, and Geralt would want to save Triss above anything else. We know that Iorveth's path is Triss-centric not only because of the greater number of Where is Triss Merigold quests, but also because during a conversation with Dandelion about Letho, Geralt says, "Just because I chose Triss doesn't mean I have forgotten about the Kingslayer". I don't know how Geralt decided that choosing Iorveth vs. Roche equaled Triss vs. Letho because it is not explicitly clear during game play. But from experience, we know that on Roche's path we get to see more into the story of the kingslayers.

If they go Roche im thinking: Kill Laredo, Henselt Lives, and sadly save Anais and give her to radovid... it makes the bleakest possible world for magic users but it makes sense for how the story was moving.. world utterly insane, everyone hates magic and the eternal fire guys have a bigger part in all of it.

its utterly depressing and bleak, and a great place to start Witcher 3... But there is a pretty big decision CDP needs to make here. Is the north ok with magic users or hate them... its very cut and dry there is absolutely no gray area for this... either magic is ok and reforming or its hunted and raped to extinction.

I badly need to play the Iorveth Path and see how that rolls out :)

If they go Roche, everyone who can be butchered must be dead. Very big scum and wrongdoers on this path...