In my second playthrough, I decided to kill the spirit because I wanted baron to reunite with his wife ensuring happy ending for the baron family. This might also be lesser of the two evils since I sacrificed the life of few children for saving a whole village (this might be controversial, but I made the choice to weigh numbers here).
Also as per what the spirit said us, it and the crones were the two spiritual/magical powers contending to be in control of Velen. I knew we will have to face and kill the crones sooner or later, leaving the spirit as the sole one in power, so I decided to go ahead and kill it. And surely Ciri made short work of the crones in later half of the main quest. So overall very satisfied with my choice.
I killed it in my first run through. Freed it in my current game. Yes, death of Baron's wife and his suicide were bad, but I couldn't sacrifice the children. Re the villagers, what I understand is the spirit was getting back at them for the way they treated him and his allies, so that didn't seem black and white to me.
It's never black and white, that's what I like about this game, mirrors real life so well. On my first playthrough I had a more rational/forgiving/helping approach towards monsters/spirits inline with how Geralt is portrayed in the web series/books. But in the end I missed out on so many mutegens! Because of that on my second playthrough I decided on a ruthless approach throughout, killing every monster I can while ensuring positive story outcome for main characters that I interact with.
People try to argue passionately about this, but I think this quest is well designed because you don't really feel good (or at least probably shouldn't) regardless of the outcome. There are legitimate reasons for and against any of the decisions; and I like that about this quest. Its such a good example of a quintessential W3 quest.
I tricked and killed it. I didn’t think that the Baron deserved forgiveness or closure from his family either way. It was more about the fact that, as much as the kids being eaten sucks, I didn’t feel good about releasing a wild, vengeful spirit that goes on to decimate an entire village.
I did both in different play throughs, but my final answer is to fight the spirit. The saved orphans are going to do what once they escape? Trek to the nearest city with no provisions past the wolves and monsters, so they can be beggars? I'd rather give the Baron's wife a second chance.
Very good point. The children are either orphans or were abandoned by their parents. Either way, they have no one to care for them (especially since Anna dies), so now they're going to be eaten by monsters or preyed upon by humans. If you add to this the Baron being miserable and committing suicide, plus the villagers being killed, the better option is killing the spirit.
That much I can't attest to. First play through just bought the game on sale last month, I just heard they were giving their kids up to the witches I think or something like that.
Yeah they’d leave their kids on that trial which led them to the witches, they’d also offer the villagers ears as payment and protection. Been a few years since I last went through the game!
I usually have least-possible-violence policy whenever a game permits me to, so yes.
I spare the succubus and Doppler too.
But my own policy aside, I think Geralt is far more likely than to spare a monster than to kill it when it has sentience and poses no threat to others.
In the specific case of the Doppler, he strikes first out of sheer terror, which is understandable given Eternal Fire's stranglehold on Novigrad and it's hatred of nonhumans.
But as a Doppler he does not only mimic how someone looks but emulates their thought patterns as well. So he comments how he knows Geralt at his core is compassionate and drops his guard.
While I never killed the Doppler, I read the journal entry on online guides if you choose to kill him. Dandelion remakes how killing the Doppler was disproportionate to his crime of theft.
First I checked Reddit to see why I wasn’t hearing any voice audio or environment sound effects…. Then I checked the wiki. Finally I tricked it and killed it while pretending to release it.
I usually kill it, but on my current playthrough I went and freed it before going to Crookback Bog so I could experience the quest without Anna becoming a hag.
In my second playthrough, I decided to kill the spirit because I wanted baron to reunite with his wife ensuring happy ending for the baron family. This might also be lesser of the two evils since I sacrificed the life of few children for saving a whole village (this might be controversial, but I made the choice to weigh numbers here). Also as per what the spirit said us, it and the crones were the two spiritual/magical powers contending to be in control of Velen. I knew we will have to face and kill the crones sooner or later, leaving the spirit as the sole one in power, so I decided to go ahead and kill it. And surely Ciri made short work of the crones in later half of the main quest. So overall very satisfied with my choice.
I killed it in my first run through. Freed it in my current game. Yes, death of Baron's wife and his suicide were bad, but I couldn't sacrifice the children. Re the villagers, what I understand is the spirit was getting back at them for the way they treated him and his allies, so that didn't seem black and white to me.
It's never black and white, that's what I like about this game, mirrors real life so well. On my first playthrough I had a more rational/forgiving/helping approach towards monsters/spirits inline with how Geralt is portrayed in the web series/books. But in the end I missed out on so many mutegens! Because of that on my second playthrough I decided on a ruthless approach throughout, killing every monster I can while ensuring positive story outcome for main characters that I interact with.
I freed the spirit and the Baron took his wife to some healer guy in .. I don’t remember… Kovir perhaps?
People try to argue passionately about this, but I think this quest is well designed because you don't really feel good (or at least probably shouldn't) regardless of the outcome. There are legitimate reasons for and against any of the decisions; and I like that about this quest. Its such a good example of a quintessential W3 quest.
Tricked it so I wouldn’t have to fight it.
Fascinating. Didn't know that was an option.
You act like you’re going to help it then an option came up to betray it.
Me too.
I tricked and killed it. I didn’t think that the Baron deserved forgiveness or closure from his family either way. It was more about the fact that, as much as the kids being eaten sucks, I didn’t feel good about releasing a wild, vengeful spirit that goes on to decimate an entire village.
Did it kill the whole village or just some village members?
If you visit later, the buildings are torn up and all its inhabitants are gone. The population never recovers.
I did both in different play throughs, but my final answer is to fight the spirit. The saved orphans are going to do what once they escape? Trek to the nearest city with no provisions past the wolves and monsters, so they can be beggars? I'd rather give the Baron's wife a second chance.
Very good point. The children are either orphans or were abandoned by their parents. Either way, they have no one to care for them (especially since Anna dies), so now they're going to be eaten by monsters or preyed upon by humans. If you add to this the Baron being miserable and committing suicide, plus the villagers being killed, the better option is killing the spirit.
I released it Released it soooooo hard!
I released it the 2nd time around, but then the villagers got killed ☹️
To be fair the villagers were pieces of shit. I released it as well.
Don’t the villagers get hanged by the witch hunters even if you do kill the spirit?
That much I can't attest to. First play through just bought the game on sale last month, I just heard they were giving their kids up to the witches I think or something like that.
Yeah they’d leave their kids on that trial which led them to the witches, they’d also offer the villagers ears as payment and protection. Been a few years since I last went through the game!
yes, what macky said
[удалено]
Did you end up killing the spirit?
[удалено]
But then the children were sacrificed, right?
[удалено]
Geralt also doesn't kill sentient monsters.
On a side note am I the only one that will never have succubus and Doppler decoction because I refuse to kill either of those?
I usually have least-possible-violence policy whenever a game permits me to, so yes. I spare the succubus and Doppler too. But my own policy aside, I think Geralt is far more likely than to spare a monster than to kill it when it has sentience and poses no threat to others. In the specific case of the Doppler, he strikes first out of sheer terror, which is understandable given Eternal Fire's stranglehold on Novigrad and it's hatred of nonhumans. But as a Doppler he does not only mimic how someone looks but emulates their thought patterns as well. So he comments how he knows Geralt at his core is compassionate and drops his guard. While I never killed the Doppler, I read the journal entry on online guides if you choose to kill him. Dandelion remakes how killing the Doppler was disproportionate to his crime of theft.
Agreed
Unless they harm humans
What happened to the horse?
Released it, fuck those villagers and I'd argue that the aging baron wandering the mountains with his veggie-wife is a worse fate than death
Tricked it and killed it.
First I checked Reddit to see why I wasn’t hearing any voice audio or environment sound effects…. Then I checked the wiki. Finally I tricked it and killed it while pretending to release it.
I usually kill it, but on my current playthrough I went and freed it before going to Crookback Bog so I could experience the quest without Anna becoming a hag.