So I got my ending, only thing that bothered me is that somehow the maniac radovid rules novigrad and velen causing chaos everywhere. I looked into what triggers this and this happens if you ingore the "assassin" quest line but I'm not sure wtf is going on here because I finished that quest line.

I looked in my quest-log and I finished
An Eye for an Eye
A Deadly Plot
Redania’s Most Wanted - I saved roche and ves - and told them if they ever needed a favor.

Okay I just double-checked and apparently I never got the next part of this quest line which is Reason of State.

You have to help Djisktra kill Radovid.
It requires that you don't further break his leg in the quest blindingly obvious.

That's stupid. I thought they already did their assassination crap. That is really freaking stupid.

It's ridiculous how one decision like that can change a massive part of the ending of the game that much. Seems like an oversight to me.

Luckily I have a save from before with one of the "assassin" quest line parts....

assassination crap requires someone being assassinated.
In this case Radovid.

Yeah no kidding, I thought that quest line was completely over. It's dumb how if you "forcefully push Dijsktra" you aren't even allowed to participate in something that changes the end of the game though.

I had thought I was done with their assassination crap because thats much later in the game and saving phillipa has nothing to do with it at all.

This is fucking stupid man.

Murdering a reigning monarch (or not) usually changes history. Blindingly obvious, where you get Phillipa, happens in Act 3, much later than the assassins quest, so you won't have to go back that far.

um you're not listening to what I'm saying. It's idiotic that saving philipa in the bathhouse and choosing to push djikstra, which has absolutely NOTHING to do with their assassination plans, completely locks you out of something that changes the ending that dramatically.

Especially after you can finish the assassination quests long before you save philipa, and after you save thaler and talk to him he basically tells you their plans don't involve you and that hes not saying absolutely anything about it to you at all.

I mean, do you see what I'm saying? Saving philipa in the bathhouse should have abso-fucking-lutely nothing to do with this assassination questline. They aren't related AT ALL. It's two completely different quest lines.

I can't believe I was completely locked out of something that changes the ending of the game that much because I pushed that scumbag djikstra.

Terrible design decision. Saving her from the bathhouse should have no influence whatsoever on unlocking the next part of that assassination quest when the game tricks you into thinking that you're done with it.

The first assassination quest is just to get Thaler back with his intelligence report.
Much later, if you don't assault him in the blindingly obvious quest, Djisktra will ask you to help him, Thaler, & Roche kill Radovid.
Once Radovid is dead, you decide who rules Radania.

If you break his leg again, he is not likely to ask you for help to assassinate Radovid.
Without your help, the plot fails.

And Phillipa & Radovid's death are closely related

yeah I know, that's ridiculously idiotic don't you think? Saving phil has absolutely NOTHING to do with this assassination shit so why did they put a trigger like that in this quest?? The game tricks you into thinking you're done with the assassination quest line before you go save philipa. Thaler basically tells you, you're done with it.

It's just stupid man. Such an important quest that affects the ending that much should not be triggered in a random quest line that has nothing to do with it. It's fucking stupid bro.

Yeah I'm gonna replay it to get the better ending from that save I made, but it doesn't change how bad this was designed.

It does, actually. Dijkstra mentions that their first assassination plan was "botched," and the second one (which you're an active participant in) only succeeds because of Radovid's father's ring that Philippa gives you. You use it as evidence to convince him that you really know where she is, and only manage to lure him off of his ship because of that. Before you present it to him, he's skeptical enough to question your claim that you know where she is, so it stands to reason that the plot would never manage to succeed without her aid.

I like that, honestly. Things happen apart from your involvement, and not everything you help with automatically succeeds like in most games. You have to keep playing it safe in interactions to hedge your bets. However, the "shove him forcefully" option leading you to break his leg is admittedly a bit unclear and definitely way harsher than it appears.

That would be because you're already pissing Dijkstra off by not letting him have his way with Eilhart, and another broken leg is probably what makes him figure "you know what, fuck you, witcher."

It's still a little ridiculous that pushing Dijkstra preclude you the chance to kill Radovid

After all not only you are already aware of the plan, but Thaler and Roche may and probably would want to include you as well

Philippa want him dead too, and it would make sense if she would have follow Dijkstra and after discovering his plan, informed Geralt so that SHE could get the chance to kill him personally

I think that the more logical series of event would have been:

1) Geralt Forcefully shove Dijkstra

2) Both Roche and Thatler want Geralt in even if Dijkstra don't

3) Philippa eavesdrop them and learn the details of the plan

4) Either Roche, Thaler or Philippa inform Geralt regardless, or maybe Dijkstra begrudgingly accept to get Geralt into the plan. Remember that Dijkstra was a spymaster, and a spymaster should understand when your emotions are negatively influencing the best possible outcome of a plan

Ever heard of the phrase "I don't like him, but i respect him?"

Dijkstra may hate Geralt, but he is still the BEST sword master available at the time, and Geralt has already proven his willingness to kill Radovid

5) After the assassination is done, Dijkstra do not give Geralt the chance to back out, and instead try to get the whole group killed