How to the Orphans & Anna?

[Ilrita]

I've restarted the game like ten times trying different things but nothing works. Anna is always saved, the witches mention that the kids are plump, Geralt says they are gone and the orphanage at Novigrad is empty and there is no letter (like there should be if it is successful).

I have searched high and low, asked many different people, and have gotten no response. Maybe you guys have the solution? I'm pretty desperate because I want to save the kids but I don't want the Baron to hang himself or Anna to die.

Methods I tried:
1: Free the spirit before starting any of the relevant quests
2: Free the spirit before going to the Bog
3: Free the spirit while following Johnny to the nest but BEFORE he guides you back to the orphanage
4: Free the spirit after giving Johnny his voice but walking away before arriving at the orphanage.
5: Free the spirit after talking to the kids about Johnny/Ciri but before meeting Johnny

So many people say this is possible and I have seen the video of the kids at the orphanage, but is it really true? Can someone please give me a step by step guide on how to do this?

[♠.brT]

So i managed to "free the spirit" and save Ana, but it is very clear that it is an unintended design of the game.

I did it by freeing the spirit before following Johnny back, but after that the game goes kinda of weird, first of all, the cutscene where geralt talks about his choice will be about geralt killing the spirit (which is not what i did but okay..) and the conversation with the witches makes sense in that regard, they talk about it like if they had killed the kids, but then when geralt goes back to help the Baron save his wife, the spirit was the one that destroyed the village... Ana is saved, but could not find out what happened to the kids, i heard somewhere that they are supposed to show up in Novigrad, but can't find it.

So i don't think this is reliable, at all, it's a glitch.

[FoxHound]

Free the spirit after you talk with witches and they sent you to kill it
Just follow the quests
But then, yeah, Anna will die and Baron hang

[Ilrita]

@FoxHound

I know the outcomes of choosing to kill the spirit or free it after talking with the Crones. :P I want to know if it really is possible to save the kids and Anna like so many claim it is.

@♠.brT

They're supposed to be at the school in Novigrad. You find a note on the table talking about new students with the same names as the kids from the bog. You also see them at the school, either inside in the corner or outside playing. Of course, I only saw this outcome via a video on youtube, I haven't actually managed to do it yet so maybe it is a bug (that they fixed?).

[WolfEisberg]

Originally posted by Ilrita:

I've restarted the game like ten times trying different things but nothing works. Anna is always saved, the witches mention that the kids are plump, Geralt says they are gone and the orphanage at Novigrad is empty and there is no letter (like there should be if it is successful).

I have searched high and low, asked many different people, and have gotten no response. Maybe you guys have the solution? I'm pretty desperate because I want to save the kids but I don't want the Baron to hang himself or Anna to die.

Methods I tried:
1: Free the spirit before starting any of the relevant quests
2: Free the spirit before going to the Bog
3: Free the spirit while following Johnny to the nest but BEFORE he guides you back to the orphanage
4: Free the spirit after giving Johnny his voice but walking away before arriving at the orphanage.
5: Free the spirit after talking to the kids about Johnny/Ciri but before meeting Johnny

So many people say this is possible and I have seen the video of the kids at the orphanage, but is it really true? Can someone please give me a step by step guide on how to do this?

:sadelf:

You can't save the children and Anna. The only way for you to save the children is after you talked to the witches to the point that it triggers the spirit offering saving the children, but Anna will be doomed.

Who ever told you it was possible are wrong. The only thing possible is releasing the spirit and keeping Anna alive, but the children are still eaten.

[♠.brT]

Originally posted by Ilrita:

@♠.brT

They're supposed to be at the school in Novigrad. You find a note on the table talking about new students with the same names as the kids from the bog. You also see them at the school, either inside in the corner or outside playing. Of course, I only saw this outcome via a video on youtube, I haven't actually managed to do it yet so maybe it is a bug (that they fixed?).

Yeah i saw neither of those things, keep in mind that pretty much all kids in the entire game look just like the ones in that orphanage. Though maybe i miss the note.

I did my playthrough where i managed to do both things (free the spirit and save anna) a few days ago, so i doubt they fixed it. As i said, it is clearly a bug though, and it doesn't look very reliable anyway, and it doesn't even make sense, in my case, geralt acted like he had killed the spirit in the cutscene where he talks about the choice he made.

[Ozone]

Originally posted by eisberg:

Originally posted by Ilrita:

I've restarted the game like ten times trying different things but nothing works. Anna is always saved, the witches mention that the kids are plump, Geralt says they are gone and the orphanage at Novigrad is empty and there is no letter (like there should be if it is successful).

I have searched high and low, asked many different people, and have gotten no response. Maybe you guys have the solution? I'm pretty desperate because I want to save the kids but I don't want the Baron to hang himself or Anna to die.

Methods I tried:
1: Free the spirit before starting any of the relevant quests
2: Free the spirit before going to the Bog
3: Free the spirit while following Johnny to the nest but BEFORE he guides you back to the orphanage
4: Free the spirit after giving Johnny his voice but walking away before arriving at the orphanage.
5: Free the spirit after talking to the kids about Johnny/Ciri but before meeting Johnny

So many people say this is possible and I have seen the video of the kids at the orphanage, but is it really true? Can someone please give me a step by step guide on how to do this?

:sadelf:

You can't save the children and Anna. The only way for you to save the children is after you talked to the witches to the point that it triggers the spirit offering saving the children, but Anna will be doomed.

Who ever told you it was possible are wrong. The only thing possible is releasing the spirit and keeping Anna alive, but the children are still eaten.

I also heard it was possible to save the kids and Anna. But I still wouldn't want that ancient demon roaming around in a horse's body. Sorry orphans :D

Look what I found on wiki

Saving the Tree Spirit- If you want to save the tree, you’ll need a woman’s remains, a raven’s feather, and a black wild horse. It may sound like a lot but you already have a raven feather from the nest with Johnny, and both the woman's remains and the horse is easy to find. Just leave the cave and follow your marker to find the woman's remains. From there, follow the marker to an open field where you will encounter a pack of wild horses. Slowly approach them and use the Axii sign to tame one of the horses. Ride the horse back to the tree spirit to free the spirit.

If you do this AFTER starting the main quest “Ladies of the Wood”, the tree will free the children at Crookback Bog, which will upset the Crones and spell danger for Gran.

If you do this BEFORE starting “Ladies of the Wood”, the tree will not have made the promise of saving the children. But the tree spirit will be freed and Gran WON'T be in danger. Regardless, the tree will exact revenge on the village of Downwarren.
Note: If this quest is done AFTER starting “Ladies of the Wood” it will have a negative impact when it comes to finding Anna, the Bloody Baron's wife. If the quest is done BEFORE “Ladies of the Wood” Anna won't be in the same kind of danger.

[WolfEisberg]

Originally posted by Ozone:

Originally posted by eisberg:

You can't save the children and Anna. The only way for you to save the children is after you talked to the witches to the point that it triggers the spirit offering saving the children, but Anna will be doomed.

Who ever told you it was possible are wrong. The only thing possible is releasing the spirit and keeping Anna alive, but the children are still eaten.

I also heard it was possible to save the kids and Anna. But I still wouldn't want that ancient demon roaming around in a horse's body. Sorry orphans :D

Look what I found on wiki

Saving the Tree Spirit- If you want to save the tree, you’ll need a woman’s remains, a raven’s feather, and a black wild horse. It may sound like a lot but you already have a raven feather from the nest with Johnny, and both the woman's remains and the horse is easy to find. Just leave the cave and follow your marker to find the woman's remains. From there, follow the marker to an open field where you will encounter a pack of wild horses. Slowly approach them and use the Axii sign to tame one of the horses. Ride the horse back to the tree spirit to free the spirit.

If you do this AFTER starting the main quest “Ladies of the Wood”, the tree will free the children at Crookback Bog, which will upset the Crones and spell danger for Gran.

If you do this BEFORE starting “Ladies of the Wood”, the tree will not have made the promise of saving the children. But the tree spirit will be freed and Gran WON'T be in danger. Regardless, the tree will exact revenge on the village of Downwarren.
Note: If this quest is done AFTER starting “Ladies of the Wood” it will have a negative impact when it comes to finding Anna, the Bloody Baron's wife. If the quest is done BEFORE “Ladies of the Wood” Anna won't be in the same kind of danger.

Yeah you heard it is possible, but that doesn't change the fact that it isn't possible at all. Whether that rumor started by trolling or someone's own misunderstanding I do not know, but it is literally not possible to save Anna and the orphans.

[Ozone]

Originally posted by eisberg:

Originally posted by Ozone:

I also heard it was possible to save the kids and Anna. But I still wouldn't want that ancient demon roaming around in a horse's body. Sorry orphans :D

Look what I found on wiki

Yeah you heard it is possible, but that doesn't change the fact that it isn't possible at all. Whether that rumor started by trolling or someone's own misunderstanding I do not know, but it is literally not possible to save Anna and the orphans.

Well I'm not going to test it out, f*ck that tree spirit

[Ilrita]

Just look through reddit, youtube or the official forums. Plenty of people have "done" it, many of them initially believing it wasn't possible and then reporting that it was after trying. I'm not saying that's 100% proof of course, just that there's pretty big reason to ask about it or look into it.

@Ozone

Either way there's gonna be an ancient evil eating someone, so might as well attempt to save the kids and Anna this time around. xD

[WolfEisberg]

Originally posted by Ozone:

Originally posted by eisberg:

Yeah you heard it is possible, but that doesn't change the fact that it isn't possible at all. Whether that rumor started by trolling or someone's own misunderstanding I do not know, but it is literally not possible to save Anna and the orphans.

Well I'm not going to test it out, f*ck that tree spirit

You don't need to, the OP already did. Since the tree spirit never offered to save the children, the spirit will not save them. The only way for those children to be saved is if the tree spirit offers and that only happens with a trigger relating to the crone's and at that point is either Anna or the Children are left alive, but not both.

It is impossible to save Anna and the children.

[WolfEisberg]

Originally posted by Ilrita:

Just look through reddit, youtube or the official forums. Plenty of people have "done" it, many of them initially believing it wasn't possible and then reporting that it was after trying. I'm not saying that's 100% proof of course, just that there's pretty big reason to ask about it or look into it.

@Ozone

Either way there's gonna be an ancient evil eating someone, so might as well attempt to save the kids and Anna this time around. xD

Those people are trolling. It is not possible to save both. The tree spirit has to make the offer to save the children, and that only happens at the point that either Anna dies or the children die.

Just for the fact they you can instructions for every other outcome related to this game, not just Anna/children, on the internet, but cannot find instructions for saving Anna and children after 19 months should be evidence enough that it is not possible and other people are trolling you.

[Ilrita]

Seems really strange that every single person discussing it would be lying or trolling. That says something pretty sad about a lot of people though. Do they wake up and just have this undeniable need to lie and confirm lies? Just to screw with people?

[♠.brT]

Originally posted by Ilrita:

Seems really strange that every single person discussing it would be lying or trolling. That says something pretty sad about a lot of people though. Do they wake up and just have this undeniable need to lie and confirm lies? Just to screw with people? :calm_creep:

Oh there are people who do that. It's not hard to find people encouraging others to "romance both triss and yen", and claiming that it works if you do it in a specific way.

[WolfEisberg]

Originally posted by Ilrita:

Seems really strange that every single person discussing it would be lying or trolling. That says something pretty sad about a lot of people though. Do they wake up and just have this undeniable need to lie and confirm lies? Just to screw with people? :calm_creep:

There are a lot of trolls out there.
But like I said just for the fact that there are no instructions on how to for a 19 or 20 month old game, when there is for everything else speaks volumes toward to those people trolling.

[Ilrita]

That's very frustrating to know after all the attempts I tried. It would have been awesome if a "third" option like that was possible though, even if it were made far more difficult to achieve than the rest. Damn those people for getting my hopes up. :(

Well, at least I discovered it was possible to free the spirit and still save Anna. I guess that's better than nothing.