Book Geralt question

[Imyo]

So im trying to do a canon Geralt build and playthrough and i didnt read the books, so im asking for some advice, i have the build setup already but the choices are what are bugging me.

What would Geralt do?

1) Pick up all quests? even the small ones? no?
2) Choices like "keep the gold for your child" are viable?
3) Would he clean up bandit camps just because he walks by them?
4) Quests like "missing wife" doesnt state that involve a monster problem, would Geralth pick that notice anyway?

[Living Broscillograph]

Book Geralt would probably do this way:
1) torment his companions all the way with pseudophilosophy trying to make them think he's very clever;
2) drink a lot and befriend questionable personae;
3) siege a castle and slaughter anyone who threatens his close ones;
4) get drunk;
5) pseudophilosophy'till he gets into trouble again;

But. Book Geralt is younger than one in games, less experienced, less old.
---

Image of Geralt is a very subjective thing. Mostly he acts according to circumstances. Sometimes he's rational, sometimes he's foolish, sometimes he's an hysteric you'd want to hit with a shoe, sometimes he's cold like an unstoppable beast. Usually, 'till he encounters someone who kicks his butt almost to death.

He's not a rich man, so he'd probably would pick as much jobs as he could afford with his current resources and health.

He's not a knight in shiny armor but sometimes he acts like this, so, yes, he might refuse to take payment. Or might not, depends on circumstances, his mood, Moon's phase and Melitele knows what. He's an unpredictable dude. That's why we like him :D

Would he clean up bandit camps just because he can? Who knows. He'd probably not try his luck and avoid their hideouts. But, anyway, we're talking about Geralt who's seen so much ♥♥♥♥ and has literally came back from dead just a couple'o'years before TW1! He passed through TW1 and TW2, so he might've changed his habits and is very angry on people. Or not - it's up to you.

As for quests that don't indicate there are monsters involved... it's a job! Job means money, and witchers need money. They even work as hired assassins because they need resources, need food, clean clothes and want to continue their business on the Road. So, why not. He might take the quest.

P.S.: Book Geralt would never, Never, NEVER kill a dragon!

[Yung Cosmonaut]

It's subjective:
Geralt usually doesn't deal in absolutes alot is dictated by his mood.
1: Probably not all quests.
2: Depends early Geralt would just walk away if the pay wasn't good enough but later Geralt may depending on how he is feeling.
3.No, i get the feeling unless he is really spoiling for a fight he would just avoid them.
4.Depends on a quest by quest basis, I would say no for a missing wife but others like it he may have a go at.



Mostly he just wanders round, drunk and in pain talking about philosophy and being kind of a sarcastic ♥♥♥♥


edit: He also won't take contracts to kill anything intelligent that isn't hurting people.
He won't kill people for being ♥♥♥♥♥, but does for people like rapists and murderers

[Imyo]

Wow man didnt expect that much dedication in the answers, i really apreciate all this information, both of you thank you very much, i ll start a playthrough tonight with all this in mind, as far as i can gather from your indications i can pretty much do whatever i want with the quests (i mean to accept them or not) thats a relief, since i did 2 playthroughs already but didnt get to play blood and wine yet so i want to experience it all, with side quests included.

[deidian]

Without reading the books from the descriptions given here seems easy to roleplay him. Just be yourself, everyone in the world takes decisions based on their perception of others and in which direction the wind blows at the moment of deciding.

The options for dialogs, setting aside the ones for close ones for Geralt allways move between neutral treatment or ignoring some annoyance and acid/sarcastic speaking and gesturing.

[v0]

dunno my feeling he wouldnt risk his hide unless he needed money. any fight's chance to be your last. doesnt quite work in tw3 where money from contracts negligible to what you can loot. now if you dont loot at all that's quite challenging actually.

[Bird_Dog]

Originally posted by v0:

dunno my feeling he wouldnt risk his hide unless he needed money. any fight's chance to be your last.

pretty much this.
I think CDR did probably as good a job as possible for this kind of games to discurrage players from picking fights just for the sake of fighting.
Unlike the player, Geralt doesn't have the luxury of an F5 key. Every fight is a calculated risk, and there is no "trial and error".
So, to realy rollplay Geralt, you'd have to avoid fights whenever you possibly can without becoming what Geralt hates most (sapient beings (man, elves, dwarves ect.) acting like the monsters witchers were created to fight).
So Geralt would probably avoid a bandit camp. Unless there is a hostage locked into a cage.
Because he couldn't let the guy rott there without hating himself for it (off course, he'd be cursing himself for bing a fool all the time while risking his neck to bail the guy out).

[Imyo]

Originally posted by BuzzardBee:

If you really want to get into it just read the books. There aren't that many and they thankfully aren't that long either. But keep in mind that the games (all three of them) are not considered canon as they diverge from the stories in several ways.

So, best advice would be to play it once through on the easiest setting and just soak in the story and backstory (in the form of books, notes and letters that you can find throughout the game) and just enjoy it that way.

Second run could be as whatever build you'd like. Many go for a tank which is completely out of keeping with the book lore since witchers aren't meant to be tanks but they're used to playing as tanks so the devs included witcher gear that's better suited to take more damage (heavy armor).

However witchers were created to be faster and more agile than humans so heavy armor just doesn't make much sense if you think about it. But the choice is yours.

As for contracts, it's important to note that the game is skewed to grant the most experience for doing the main story quests AND contracts that are closest to your current level. As you go beyond 5 or 6 levels above the recommended levels, you will only receive 2 xp.

And, lastly, contracts are how a witcher makes his living, fills his stomach and is able to buy the supplies he requires for his skill. Refusing to do some of them is very much not in keeping with the lore so while you may have a nifty gear set and build you think are just awesome, skipping contracts means you'll have less money which pretty much makes the need for the best build possible obsolete.

I played the game twice already tho and in death march, there is no other way to play games for me, even tried hardcore but some glitches make it kinda frustrating, i have like 300 hours (the second one was kinda rushed).

The build im doing is mostly melee without rend or whirl, using aard in fights only when really needed, delusion for dialogue, and the alternative of queen is there but i plan to use it only in certain boss fights (i did some research on how geralt fights in the books, like igni not being even an option in combat and that stuff, i know he used queen dome once at least in the books), im not using yrden at all, bombs and oils arent an option either (oils im still not sure tho, they are a big part of the game to just avoid). I can manage with the gameplay, im not a pro but im good at this things, i only fear the toad fight might be impossible tho.

Money in the game isnt a problem, even not looting corpses, just a few good swords you pick up from chests are worth almost 1k each and its not like they force you to buy things, you can pretty much go for the entire game without buying anything, almost.

All i want to know is just for roleplaying purposes.

And i didnt read the books yet because the spanish translation is kinda meh, i ll tho, eventually, or try it in english going really slow.

Originally posted by Bird_Dog:

Originally posted by v0:

dunno my feeling he wouldnt risk his hide unless he needed money. any fight's chance to be your last.

pretty much this.
I think CDR did probably as good a job as possible for this kind of games to discurrage players from picking fights just for the sake of fighting.
Unlike the player, Geralt doesn't have the luxury of an F5 key. Every fight is a calculated risk, and there is no "trial and error".
So, to realy rollplay Geralt, you'd have to avoid fights whenever you possibly can without becoming what Geralt hates most (sapient beings (man, elves, dwarves ect.) acting like the monsters witchers were created to fight).
So Geralt would probably avoid a bandit camp. Unless there is a hostage locked into a cage.
Because he couldn't let the guy rott there without hating himself for it (off course, he'd be cursing himself for bing a fool all the time while risking his neck to bail the guy out).

i considered going hardcore mode but the game makes it impossible sometimes, i got stuck in places more than once, some bugs like swords not unsheathing or not being able to swing your swords every now and then, even some bugged rotfiends that explode at full hp without any kind of warning, plus the fact that you might enter an area where you cant meditate so you are out of potions and stuck there waiting to be slaughtered.