Oh, dear. This can't be good. I don't know what to suggest here since it wasn't happening before. How many saved games do you have? Others have spoken of having to keep them trimmed to a minimum.

I remember being all pumped up for a big fight with the ghost player too, But when you get to the hermit's compound, you will plenty of ghostly fighting to do!

I was all but resigned to reinstalling the game when the crashing stopped. Argh.

I had a morbid sort of chuckle over the two sisters. Kind of like my older sister and me when we were jest young'uns. When I was two she pushed me off the top of an Olympic-height diving board and I sank like a stone. But justice prevailed because I got to go to the zoo that afternoon and had tea with the baby chimps. And she had to stay home.

Hi Hagatha!

I'm so glad you got the crashes over and done!
I pop in on occaision to see what's new with my Witcher, and he sure does have you interested huh?

My question is this...baby chimps drink tea???

Well, sort of. In the 1950's, when my family lived in Colombo, there were a lot of interactive activities at the zoo, like elephant rides and petting young animals and so on. Every afternoon at tea time the baby chimps were all put in one cage and given little cups containing, I presume, water or milk or whatever baby chimps drink, and I guess any little kids that happened to be around got to sit in there with them. My mother still can't believe she didn't have her camera that day.

Now Geralt, on the other hand, is at the point where he's really hard to kill. I haven't any gold points yet, still working on silver level skills, but soon, very soon. I've concentrated on only two Magic skills, Fire and Air, and am finding those to be pretty much all I need. I don't find the other three to be all that helpful. I did finally upgrade my silver sword in Muddy Waters but didn;t really need to, it just seemed that I had to spend some of that money I won off that prat DeWitt.

That is so neat Hagatha!! Wish I could've seen that. I do wonder what was in those cups tho!

So it's looking like I'm the lone crow in this, but I chose The Order both times I played, I just couldn't side with the Squirrels, they seemed too fanatical and not at all reasonable! I also wanted to go neutral, and I will on one play soon, but boy is that hard!

Oh DeWitt...gads I wanted to just smack him down!!

Oh and the other skills, well, I played with thm the second time I played, and they were lots of fun! But I'm glad I waited to fiddle with them, they're fun but not as good as fire and air.

geeeez...where is that new release??

Which one is air? Is that the same as Aard, the knockdown one? I use that one a lot, especially on the dratted kikimores. Knock 'em down and then go in for the kill!

Thank heavens the crashing stopped, hagatha!

I use Aard a lot too

Yes, Aard. Very handy in a tight corner. The protection Orb spell doesn't do much for me, but I suppose at higher levels it's pretty good.

The Pain spell is only really helpful if a) you have a little time before you're overrun, and b) you have a narrow corridor to put your nasty little spell in. I loved watching the Bloated Balloon swamp thingies explode on those pointy bits, though. Blam! Bloatzinger pate.

Bloedzinger pate? Oh, my!

It's quite good on toast!

Where is the Mason durig the day? He's the only named character in the village I haven't talked to, and I've been trying to since the start of the level. He won't talk to me at night in his hut.

Also, is there any way to help Celina? I can't find her in the Fields, night or day.

The mason should be at the bridge during the day - way south of the village, following the path.
Celina appears

Thanks. In the end I bugged him all night until he was just about to get out of bed. It took ages, but he finally talked to me. And now I know what all of those little creatures in the Crypt were up to!

I obviously missed my chance to help Celina. Next time I'll try to remember.

Geralt is second-guessing his choice to help the nonhumans, I think. Were he to have another chance, he would try to remain neutral. I mean, he's being pretty hypocritical, prancing around Foltest's castle and doing quests for the humans and all the while helping the nonhumans.

I'll try remaining neutal next time. I presume if you do you have to fight both sides at some point. Geralt could do it, if he had enough potions. His Fire and Air spells are at level five. But I hadn't made enough potions at the point of no return, so I had to pick a side.

I must say, when the Lady came out of the water with that sword, I thought, "Oiks! Cliche alert! If that sword is called Excalibur, I'm dumping the danged thing back into the lake." Fortunately it wasn't.

One question. I've made a number of potions that aren't identified, just for fun. I'm afraid to take them, but I'll try at last one while I'm sloshing around in the Swamp. Is there a way to tell what a potion will turn out like beforehand? Not that it would help, really. I just plopped ingredients into the mix for fun. But is there an alchemy guide for the less adventurous who don't want to turn into a newt just as the big Boss batle starts?

The Game Pressure Guide has a link to alchemy at the bottom. I don't know if it shows anything but the known potion results though. I don't think you will know what it does until you down it!

Game Pressure Guide

The one I drank just tasted really bad, apparently. I have three more of a different kind - but ominously all the same -- which I will try while I'm cruising through the Swamp Cemetary. I would play with Alchemy more, but the loading on my game is so slow that it prohibits experimentation.

I am now about to collect the items I need for the armour, and then I guess I'll kill things in the Swamp for a while, just to see if I can level up a couple of times, and then it looks like I'm headed for that old Manor and whatever lies beyond.

I had hoped to get four or five more levels just to get to the point where I received two gold skill tokens on each level up (I'm three levels off that point), but I guess I'll have to make do with what I have. It's certainly enough. The Striga was ridiculously easy to hold off for the night using a combination of Aard, running around, and feints with the torch. And Dagon was just silly, with his snivelling little minions.

Next time I'll try playing neutral on the most dificult level (I'm playing medium). I missed a few quests, too. If I can get them all in the right order I might get to a higher level.

I'm definitely playing at the highest level next time. Plus I'm turning off the little notes about where you are in your fighting combos.

I killed the Striga the first time and held her off the second time... I found Dagon sort of hard the first time and quite easy the second time. But I think I had Geralt leveled up more the second time.

Have fun in the swamps!

This time I'm playing on the hardest level. Has anyone played NOT using Aard and Ignii extensively? Have you used Quen or the Hexing or Protection spells instead? I'm a little leery of going into combat without the ability to stun and then incinerate. It's a deadly combo. But almost too easy.

I had six sword skills at level four and two at five, plus many of the special sword hits, all of my stats at level five and most of the skills activated, and Aard and Ignii at level five, with most of the skills activated.

Since I found the other spells virtually useless I nly got them up to level two, and wouldn't have bothered with that except that at a certain point you have to use up those bronze skill points. But I was always overloaded with potions and alchemy ingredients, and I can see that if you used alchemy wisely you could concentrate on combat instead of magic.

Hagatha...oiks... I love this word and I'm going to find many ways to use it from now on!

I used the other spells, but only when I knew I could win the fight easily. They are really pretty good when you get them leveled up! I had lots of fun with them, and I think given the chance to fight with them regularly where you would get to know them well might be pretty good! The best are aard and igni, but the others are well worth getting to know. Hmm..hard choices huh?

The potions that were unidentified, well, I figured out a way to see what they are...I just saved the game, and then took the potion to see what it would do. Then I reloaded with the wonderful knowlegde!

I take it you're on your second round? I played thru 3 times, I had to quit so I could play with new zest when the new stuff comes out. I ended up siding with The Order each time darn it! I couldn't help it!

Hah! The last homemade brew I tried blinded Geralt. He shrieked and staggered around with his hands over his face for about 15 seconds. I won't be trying that one again any time soon. I guess experimentation doesn't pay in this game.

Yes, I'm on my second go-round, and having trouble with the wee Beastie. He doesn't stun easily, and of course I can't burn him. If it wasn't for Abigail, I wouldn't have any trouble, but of course Geralt has to try to save the silly, er, witch, and he gets killed.

Somehow, I always found it easier to let Abigail fend for herself

What in the heck did you give him? It must have been good for something??
Oh Hagatha, when you get ahold of Skooma that you don't need for anything, have Geralt try it out, it's hilarious!!

I never thought to have Geralt try the local dope. I must try that. It would make sense, since he's fond of his booze, and the Witcher potions are pretty dicey. He'd likely want to try it at least once.

I have no idea what that blinding potion was. It was an experiment. After all, Kalkstein himself suggests that one should experiment with one's alchemy ingredients. So I did. One potion I made in the last game apparently tasted really awful but seemed to renew Vitality, one potion made him blind, as above, and darned if I can remember what the other one did, but it was BAD. And funny.

The Beast is now down, having succumbed to an Aard spell. Happily, I had used my Cinfred Oil in my blade just before enetering the Salamandra Hideout, so when the villagers attacked after the Beast died, Geralt made them pay.

I'm trying to figure out if I should go with the Order this time, or try to stay neutral. I'm not really interested in the Order, since they're a bunch of pompous, pontificating prats. I supppose I could choose them if I play this a third time.

I can't work out where the point of no return is, from a neutrality perspective. I let the elves take the provisions from beside the lake, for instance. And everything seems pretty neutral until you get to the Bank heist, where you have to make a choice again. And then there's the Swamp battle, where again you have to make a choice. Do these choices affect the ultimate choice you make in Murky Waters? Or is that merely your last chance to stay neutral or pick a side?

And then there's the Triss/Shani choice. Triss just seems more natural as a protector, but like Abigail, Triss's ethics are somewhat grey. Shani seems to be the more trustworthy of the two. Or at least the most straightforward. Of course, she'd likely get all complicated on Geralt when he started to revert to his wanton witcher ways -- he's never going to settle down on that farm and raise chickens -- and Triss doesn't seem to mind much. Which, in itself, is a red flag, come to think of it.

Choices, Choices.

Skooma? Did I miss something in my two plays?

So, Hagatha, any theories on

I've been thinking about that.

hagatha-

I think my turning point for who to fight with was in the swamp, when the order was there and Geralt was asked to lead the men as Sigfreid had hurt himself. At that point you can go or not. But that is what I remember. I have the game and all the saves off now, still waiting for all the new stuff. I am still playing The Chosen and love it, am about to close the 4th and I think final well.

Take care

maggie

Can't wait for the sequel!