The Witcher 3 - The Worst Quest in an Amazing Game

It's hard to believe that the Witcher 3 will be 5 years old this year. When it was released in 2015, this open-world RPG was met with an overwhelmingly positive response. Of particular note was the fact that even seemingly small sidequests would often have interesting twists and choices on offer. I loved almost every second of this game when I played it, but one of the larger sidequests that tied into the main story disappointed me deeply. I want to explain why. Beware, this article assumes you have a basic understanding of the Witcher 3's plot, and there will be some spoilers.

The Underbelly of Novigrad

At one point in the story, Geralt's search for Ciri leads him to Novigrad, a city untouched by the war with Nilfgaard but dealing with its own battles, namely between the local religious cult and various crime syndicates. In his search, Geralt meets the leaders of the Novigrad gangs, one of whom is Sigismund Dijkstra, Redania's former spymaster. He's easily one of my favorite characters in the game. His wit and biting sarcasm make most interactions between him and Geralt a treat, and their begrudging cooperation is a highlight in an already compelling narrative.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiLasX4Q5ww

What's both entertaining and frightening about Dijkstra is that he figures out most of the things Geralt tries to hide from him. He always seems perfectly in control of the situation, and it's completely believable that he managed to thrive even among dangerous criminals. For instance, Dijkstra asks Geralt to investigate who broke into his safe. Geralt already knows it was his friend Dandelion, but keeps this from Dijkstra to prevent complications. However, Dijkstra figures it out soon after and calls Geralt out for omitting this information. I think it's important to establish this because it's part of why I really dislike a later quest.

If you follow Triss' questline to its conclusion, Dijkstra will help you save the mages by shipping them out of Novigrad before the cult of the Eternal Fire can get them. This opens up a questline where Dijkstra reveals his true plans - he wants to assassinate Radovid, the king of Redania. Radovid is burning everyone and everything with even the vaguest relation to magic or alchemy, and Dijkstra wants to get rid of him to restore Redania to its former glory as a fair and just country. If you refuse to get involved, it ends there, but if you help Dijkstra and his co-conspirators with a small favor, a new line of quests opens in the endgame.

The War with Nilfgaard

In the final hours of the game, you return to Novigrad to prepare for the final battle. One of the main quests has you meeting Dijkstra once again, though not on the friendliest terms - he's holding someone captive that you need on your side for the finale. If you resolve the situation by breaking his leg, the questline is also lost, but if you persuade him by sharing critical information, he puts his plan to assassinate Radovid into action. This final quest in a long chain of quests is called Reason of State.

Dijkstra works together with Roche, a friend from the Witcher 2 and Thaler, a friend from The Witcher 1. Couple that with the fact that the Witcher 2 revolved around the shifting power in the Northern Realms after another king was assassinated, and it lends a sense of high stakes to this final step in a long journey of choices that could've locked you out of attempting this if you made any mistakes. If you choose to get involved, Geralt needs to personally lure Radovid from the safety of his ship so the assassination can play out, and it's appropriately exciting and climactic.

The assassination goes as planned, more or less, but then the aftermath plays out. The conspirators reveal that they have a deal with Nilfgaard; if they were to successfully assassinate Radovid, Temeria could remain its own state with its own laws and leadership, albeit as a vassal state of Nilfgaard. This is an interesting turn of events, and the game allows you to share your thoughts on whether this is a good idea, but then the quest takes a drastic turn.

Dijkstra reveals that he no longer wants to stand by the deal with Nilfgaard. Now that Radovid has been eliminated, he intends to unite the Northern Realms himself and repel Nilfgaard completely. He then proceeds to do the stupidest, most out-of-character thing in the game and bluntly claims that his co-conspirators have to die for his plan to work. He bluntly tells Geralt to just go away while he does this, and you are left with the choice of either letting him kill characters you've known for two or three games or fighting back, in which case he is unceremoniously killed in the following battle.

I don't necessarily dislike the idea of the conspirators disagreeing on the exact terms of how the Northern Realms will be ruled, but Dijkstra coming out swinging and deciding to kill his co-conspirators while assuming Geralt won't do anything about it is just stupid, especially because Roche and Thaler are his friends. He invokes the supposed Witcher neutrality regarding political affairs, but conveniently forgets that Geralt literally involved himself in their political assassination, making the expectation of neutrality completely ridiculous at that point. Earlier he even told Geralt that Witcher neutrality is just an excuse Witchers hide behind when he tries to get him involved in the assassination, so why does he suddenly think it's going to matter when he's about to backstab some people Geralt knows? And perhaps this temporary lapse in judgment could be forgiven, but if he had any of the brains that he clearly had when he was first introduced, he would immediately back down if Geralt showed resistance. After all, he should know full well that he and his two random bodyguards can't win against Geralt and several armed combatants. But he doesn't, and if you choose to defend Roche and Thaler, a short battle ensues where you easily kill Dijkstra and his men. A thoroughly anticlimactic end for what was one of the greatest characters in the game. If you allow Dijkstra to do what he wants, he successfully kills Thaler and Roche and proceeds to successfully defend Temeria from Nilfgaard. This outcome is decent enough, but it comes at such a high price in terms of character deaths and your own morality, that almost no one will consider it preferable.

In Summary

I hope I was able to articulate why this particular questline disappointed me so much. To go over it one more time:

Dijksta, a highly intelligent and scheming character, involves Geralt and his friends in a political assassination plot. At the end of the questline, he decides to betray his co-conspirators and murder them, expecting Geralt to stay out of it and let him murder some old friends because of "Witcher neutrality" - even though Geralt sacrificed his neutrality to become part of the plot in the first place. When Geralt resists, he attempts to kill Geralt too, even though he should know he can't win the fight, having seen Geralt's combat skills. In a few minutes, a complex and brilliant character is turned into a mustache twirling moron to manufacture a "choice."

Even so...

Sidequests and Witcher contracts in the Witcher 3 are famous for being well written and often having a few surprises and interesting player choices up their sleeves. In general, Witcher 3 stands tall as one of my favorite open-world games with some of the best writing and characters we've seen in the game industry as a whole. That's the reason why a small blemish like I described in this article sticks out so much. But this quest was the one and only time that I was disappointed like that, and the rest of the game deserves all the praise it gets. I look forward to seeing what they made of Cyberpunk 2077, which releases next month!

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It's been years since I played Witcher 3, but I just really wanted to get my thoughts out about this one. Thanks for reading, and please feel free to share your feedback.

Resident Evil: Code Veronica - The Horror of Losing Access to Resources

I've been making steady progress in my Resident Evil marathon and recently finished a lesser known installment in the RE series, Resident Evil: Code Veronica.  This classic-style survival horror adventure combines the static camera angles with some camera movement and focuses on Claire Redfield's journey to find her brother Chris. I've dedicated a few articles about interesting and frustrating parts of the Resident Evil series and I'd like to highlight an especially odd design choice in this one.

Up to Code

Code Veronica plays much the same as other Resident Evil games of its time, requiring you to navigate various locations with tank controls and managing your resources while dealing with the undead and solving puzzles. The moment-to-moment gameplay is identical to other RE games in that regard, but there are a few differences in the presentation and structure.

Like I mentioned in the intro, Code Veronica mostly uses static camera angles, but sometimes the camera moves with the character. On a few occasion, it's used effectively to build tension in a hallway where the camera slowly moves further away from you, or zooms in on a point of interest, but it usually feels unnecessary and unnatural. It doesn't add or detract much when it really comes down to it. The presentation itself is passable. It's clear what everything is supposed to be, but the colors are generally muddy and muted, with a fog hanging over almost everything. It's saved from being poor by some great music, character designs and a handful of interesting areas - the Private Residence comes to mind.

In terms of structure, there are larger separate areas like in Resident Evil 3 or 0, but the game makes you backtrack through earlier areas a lot like in Resident Evil 1. This is not too big of a problem if you know what you're doing, but increases the frustration tenfold if you're not sure where to go or what to do because the solution could be anywhere you've been up to this point.

With the exception of a very shoe-horned in Albert Wesker, the story is quite interesting. In her search for her brother, Claire Redfield is captured and brought to mysterious island that she has to escape from. The antagonist is an interesting and somewhat tragic character and the twists and turns along the path of this game's narrative might surprise you.

All in all, RE: Code Veronica is similar to other Resident Evil games, with some odd design choices in its structure and visuals.

From Claire to Chris

Some time after the midway point, the perspective switches and you take control of Chris, Claire's brother. He starts with his own resources, but I immediately noticed that he could access the items I put into the item box as Claire. This is a departure from the character switch in Resident Evil 3 where Carlos has his own item box and cannot access Jill's items. This gave me a headstart as Chris, but at the same time, I felt a little worried about carrying Claire's items around as Chris. If this character switch segment worked like any of the Resident Evil games so far, we would finish Chris' segment and switch back over to Claire for the finale.

To prevent a situation where Claire wouldn't have the necessary resources, I went out of my way to put all of Chris' items into the item box when the switch was about to happen - and I felt pretty smart about it when we did indeed switch back to Claire and she was fully equipped with enough firepower to knock down three final bosses and then some. So you can imagine my surprise when, after a brief segment as Claire, the game switched right back to Chris - instantly putting me in a boss fight with zero resources. To prevent an unwinnable situation like in Resident Evil 0, I had put myself in an unwinnable situation.

It required me to redo a segment, but I decided it was fair enough - this situation occurred because I overprepared for something that ultimately didn't happen. I let Chris keep most of his resources, went through Claire's segment again and defeated the boss when we switched to Chris. I was satisfied that I had given Chris enough to make it through the boss, while still leaving Claire with the most firepower. So imagine my surprise, again, when we never switched back to Claire and all her weapons were permanently out of my reach. For some reason, the entire finale is played as Chris, even though the game started out as a story about Claire. Story-wise, I thought it was a bit disappointing that Chris robbed the finale instead of letting Claire do it. Design-wise, it's just deeply flawed. To get the most out of all your resources, you need to put them in the box before switching characters, but doing that can get you locked into an unwinnable boss battle (both Claire and Chris have to fight a powerful boss in their segments). It's also just natural to assume that you'll finish the game with the character you started as, but that doesn't happen either - so if you gave up Chris' resources for Claire, too bad! You'll have to do the final boss with your knife and some scraps.

This problem was so easy to prevent, too. They could've just given you a prompt that you would not be playing as Claire again, or they could've automatically put everything in her pockets in the item box. Yes, it would reveal ahead of time that you're going to end the game as Chris, so I understand why you wouldn't want to do it for narrative reasons, but this is a situation where good game design should be valued over keeping secrets. A good compromise might be to put all of Claire's items in the item box if you die to the final boss a few times - at that point, there's nothing left to hide.

With all that said, the final boss was still manageable. It took me a few attempts, but it wasn't a brick wall like Resident Evil 0 - and if my resources had really proven completely inadequate to complete the final boss, I would've had to redo a far smaller segment than Resident Evil 0 made me redo.


Closing Thoughts

I enjoyed Resident Evil: Code Veronica. It's a lot longer than other Resident Evil games, to the point that its original release required two disks, and tries a few new things to varying degrees of success. Aside from the fatal design flaw I discussed in this article, I'd say it's a challenging but fine installment in the Resident Evil series. I'll remember the challenging bosses, story and music for a long time to come, but I've already forgotten the visuals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxq5ymqPAsQ

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It feels nice to be getting my thoughts out about some of the classics I've experienced lately. Thank you for reading! I hope you'll join me for whatever's next, and of course, your suggestions and feedback are always welcome.

Some Thoughts About Final Fantasy 13

Final Fantasy 13 is a fairly controversial installment in the beloved Final Fantasy series of RPGs, with critics disliking its battle system and highly linear level design. Now that the conversation around the game has mostly died down, I'd like to share a few thoughts of my own. As this game has been thoroughly discussed in the past, I'd mainly like to focus on how my opinions differ from the general consensus, and how they do not.

Living, Breathing Worlds (Presentation)

Square-Enix may make its mistakes, but they always seem to get the presentation just right. Final Fantasy XIII truly was a visual marvel for its time with dozens of complex, beautifully designed characters, landscapes and enemies. It looks more impressive than many recent games do. And in typical Final Fantasy fashion, it has the soundtrack to match.

The only minor problem I had with the presentation was that some enemy designs and animations are re-used quite a bit. While the re-used designs usually get updated and look more unique than mere recolors, it's still pretty noticeable.

The voice acting is also solid and does a good job of representing the characters.

Hallways and Automatic Battles (Gameplay)

I mentioned this briefly in the first few lines of this article, but people have some fundamental problems with the way this game is structured as well as its battle system.

Let's start by discussing the way the game's environments or levels are structured. It gained the nickname 'Final Hallway XIII' in certain circles because its levels are very linear and rarely necessary to visit again after you simply go from A to B. You simply walk through lengthy corridors and fight monsters, with the occasional tiny side path hiding a treasure. The game opens up eventually, but it happens so late into the game and so much is optional that it'll only make a difference if you really care to explore every corner of the world.

Enemies can be encountered in the overworld - that is, there are no random encounters in the traditional sense. Once you run into an enemy in the overworld, that's when you enter the battle system.

Final Fantasy 13 is a turn-based RPG, but you can't rest on your laurels. It uses a so-called active time battle system. Both your and your enemies' turns load in real time, and your enemy will continue to attack even if you don't. But you won't have to fiddle with menus too much, because of the game's second controversial feature - auto battling. Select the button, and the character you're controlling will just fill their turn with logical actions based on the situation. The real strategy in FFXIII isn't in choosing individual moves, but in controlling your party's Paradigm. To put it simply, each character can fulfill a few Roles, and each of those has its own specialty. Commandos maximize damage, Medics heal their teammates, Sentinels attract enemies and take damage for the team, Synergists buff teammates and so on. You don't select the roles individually either, however. Outside of battle, you'll prepare a set Paradigms - that is, different ways of dividing the roles among the characters - and during battles, you can switch between them at will. It's a surprisingly involved system, but to simplify it, you could have prepared a paradigm to attack enemies, a paradigm to protect against powerful attacks and a paradigm to heal up. In the battle itself, all you do is respond to the situation by shifting paradigms and occasionally use an item or summon when necessary.

In this regard, FFXIII is a very streamlined game. Exploration is simplified in such a way that there's little more than going from A to B, and battles are simplified in such a way that when you've prepared your paradigms, much of the battle resolves itself. I honestly don't think there's anything inherently wrong with linear environments or auto battles, but perhaps the combination of the two made people feel like every part of the game is stuck to the rails? I personally didn't mind this very much at all, as I've always preferred games that have clear destinations over games that make you wander around - and while the battle system took some getting used to, I thoroughly enjoyed exploring just how many possible Paradigms there are. I particularly like the Paradigm 'Bully,' where you have a Commando to damage the enemy, a Synergist to buff your team and a Saboteur to debuff the enemy.

To summarize, Final Fantasy XIII's environments and battles both move on set tracks, though the environments more than the battles. Exploration doesn't really come into play until much later in the game, while you'll be experimenting with the unique Paradigms soon after you start. The ways this game simplifies the formula of turn-based RPGs, and perhaps Final Fantasy games in particular, was not appreciated by some fans, but I personally thought it was a refreshing take on the formula.

A World that Hates You (Narrative)

The story of Final Fantasy 13 is, in true Square-Enix fashion, pretty complicated. You may regularly need to consult the in-game datalog to get a handle on exactly what's going on. I'll try to give you a quick summary, but I may make a few mistakes:

In the world of Final Fantasy 13, most humans live in a closed community called Cocoon. Cocoon is like a small planet floating above the world below, protected and provided for by powerful machines known as fal'Cie. The people of Cocoon are particularly afraid of anything to do with the world below - called Gran Pulse - because they were at war with it once. The problems start when a fal'Cie on the side of Gran Pulse appears in Cocoon. Its very presence starts a mass panic because fal'Cie can mark humans as their servants - such a human is called a l'Cie - so even if the fal'Cie is defeated, one or more people could have been marked as the fal'Cie's servant and become a danger to Cocoon. This kickstarts an event called the 'Purge,' where the Cocoon leadership tries to forcibly ship off everyone that could've possibly come into contact with the Pulse fal'Cie. The events of the game start during this Purge, with each of the characters having their own role to play. The backstory of the game, which is revealed gradually, is all about the days leading up to the Purge and what all the characters were doing at that time.

In the opening events of the game, the Purge is happening and each of the characters is involved in it in some way. I won't go into too many of the details, but the inciting event that leads into the rest of the journey is important to mention: The characters run into the Pulse fal'Cie and try to destroy it, but instead, it marks them as its "servants", l'Cie. Now they're considered the "enemy" of Cocoon and are given a vague goal by the fal'Cie which they have to complete or else they'll turn into mindless monsters known as Cie'th. This starts a journey of trying to navigate a world that hates them to figure out how they can escape their fate, and if they even should.

I think the story holds up overall, but definitely prepare yourself for the usual Square-Enix shenanigans - they'll use a lot of new terms (ie fal'Cie, l'Cie, Cie'th) and talk about a lot of places and people to establish their fully realized world and it can get overwhelming. The game has a datalog to mitigate this a little bit, but you'll still have to pay pretty close attention. You may find yourself asking 'What just happened?' a few times. The only thing I'd genuinely call a plothole occurs very late in the game, so I won't spoil it, but it feels like the characters' goal completely flips around at one point.

Speaking of the characters, there are 6 playable characters in total - Lightning, Snow, Sazh, Hope, Vanille and Fang. Which ones you like is going to come down to personal preference, but the most universally liked character seems to be Sazh and the most universally disliked character seems to be Hope. I can identify with the appreciation for Sazh. Very different from the brooding characters we often see in JRPGs, he's a very expressive person and his goals are easy to empathize with - he just wants to reunite with his son. I understand the dislike for Hope as well - he's the youngest character in the cast and mostly driven by misplaced anger. It makes sense in the context of the story, of course, but I can understand that not everyone had the patience to want to deal with an angry child. The rest of the cast is pretty strong and I particularly like Vanille - a cheerful girl with a hidden guilty conscience - and Snow, a natural born leader with endless optimism and courage.

All in all, FF13's high stakes story holds up, but there are an overwhelming amount of names and things to remember - makes sure you pay attention and occasionally consult the datalog, or you may get lost. Which characters you do or don't like is going to come down to personal preference. Save for one or two strange plotholes, it's a great journey.

Final Words (Conclusion)

Final Fantasy 13 represented a shift in the series that a lot of fans didn't appreciate, but looking at it for what it is, I found a lot to love about it. The strategy isn't gone from the battles because you can auto battle, it has simply moved to preparing and shifting between paradigms - and the linearity was never really a problem for me to begin with. With that said, I can understand that streamlining both the exploration and the combat made some people like the game is a lot less involved than other JRPGs. Even so - with incredible music and visuals, a mostly strong cast and very thoroughly realized world, Square-Enix took me on an unforgettable ride with this game. Just don't do what I did and take long breaks between sessions, or the already complex story will really make your head spin.

Final Fantasy 13 is an interesting case in that it has two direct sequels, Final Fantasy 13-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13. I've already finished the former and am now playing the latter, so you can expect me to share some thoughts about those games as well. Because Final Fantasy 13 is so radically different from its predecessors, it's especially interesting to discuss how the developers iterated (and didn't iterate) upon what it established.

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Thank you for reading and I apologize for the long hiatus. The first few months of 2020 weren't very productive in terms of article writing, but I'll slowly build it up again over the next few months. Please bear with me and please let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions. Have a good one!