I'm not sure how long it took since I haven't been able to find a game clock anywhere. I attempted to complete every side quest, even fist fighting and dice poker. My goal was to get the best gear possible for import into Assassins of Kings, so I knew right away I would have to make sure I didn't miss anything. There were a couple side quests in chapter 4 that I had completed but did not turn in time, thankfully nothing major though. The Order was the faction I chose to side with, partly because I liked Siegfried as he was one of the few honest characters in the game. I also knew I wanted to get the Order version of Raven's Armor, which ended up being the deciding factor. The stat bonuses were much better than the other two, at least for my brute force play style.
For most other decisions I tried to be realistic in what I would choose myself if put in that situation. In one instance I came across a knight in the local inn looking for his missing sister. He claimed she was spirited away by a blue-eyed prostitute and offered a reward for her return. After digging a little deeper it's discovered that the blue-eyed beauty is a vampire, as is The Queen of the Night, the brothel's madame. The knight's sister says that he is cruel, treats her like a slave, and that he wants to marry her off to some crotchety old lord for gold. Therein lies the dilemma: Witchers are supposed to kill monsters, of which vampires definitely qualify, but what about her story? Assuming what she says is true, I took him as the more evil in this case. At least the vampiresses treat her with some respect and compassion, as one of their own if you will, but he seems more concerned about losing a servant. In the end he shows up at the brothel with personal guard in tow, then demands that she be returned. I had already promised The Queen of the Night I would leave them in peace, to which the knight scolded me for being a witcher who sides with monsters and then attacked. The vampiresses and I killed them easily. Not exactly how I thought that quest would turn out when I started it.
One of the more interesting characters is Berenger, the rogue witcher who gave up the location of Kaer Morhen to the Salamandra. Geralt meets him in chapter 3, and there is a final confrontation in chapter 4. It's then that he comes clean and reveals that he was the one who gave Salamandra the location simply because he thought the witchers were no different or better. I could have walked away at that point, but decided to kill him instead. Traitors deserve death, and that's exactly what he got. Not a terribly tough fight, and as a bonus I looted his amulet, which later helps during the fight against Azar Javed.
Princess Adda was something of an enigma to me, especially after her admission of guilt to helping in a plot to overthrow her father. It's discovered at the end of chapter 2 that she is one that is forging royal seals and giving them to Salamandra. Still under her curse from before, she attempts to have Geralt executed, but he is teleported away by Triss. After that I was pretty much set on killing her, but later it's obvious that she's not entirely in control of her own mind. One of the major story quests in chapter 5 is to come up with a final solution to her curse, one way or the other. Geralt must enter the crypt she transforms in each night, and is locked in until she is either dead or cured. By that time I had him so buffed up that even in her cursed form she really couldn't do much damage, so instead of attacking I just played keep away until morning came. She would charge in and I would blast her back with the Aard sign. Once the sun rose she was finally cured for good. As a reward Geralt receives one of the better steel swords in the game, but I still had my eye on something better.
The final fight against Azar Javed wasn't really that difficult either. With Berenger's medallion he starts out weakened, so it wasn't much work to finish him off with a strong steel sword and more liberal use of the Aard sign. After looking in Azar's magic mirror it's discovered that the Grand Master of the Order of the Flaming Rose is the person behind everything. I didn't see that one coming and thought that Azar was always the one running Salamandra. Geralt and company then sail back to Vizima for the final confrontation, only to find the city in flames as the Scoia'tael have caused a non-human uprising. It's in these final areas that Geralt battles the elven rebels with the assistance of the Order. It's also where I found the last piece of Raven's armor and had the Order blacksmith forge it. Since I managed to turn in all of the trophy monsters, I was able to select the Moonblade as my final reward for that quest. It doesn't have any pain or other debuffs, but it does do massive damage. Likewise, after defeating the champion boxer in the last fist fight match I was able to keep his tooth I had knocked out as a reward. I had earlier started a quest in chapter 3 with a dentist in Vizima who was collecting teeth. It began with beasts' teeth, continued with monster teeth, with the final prize being the boxer's tooth. The dentist rewarded Geralt with a Mahakaman rune sihill named G'valchir, the highest damage steel sword in the game When the final battle came I was definitely prepared. I think Geralt was around level 34 or 35 when I entered the Epilogue.
Just before the final battle, the Grand Master shares his vision of Vizima's future: a vast frozen wasteland, unstoppable to all but him. He stole the witcher's secrets to create a new order, one that would see himself as Vizima's ruler and savior. He attacks immediately after, first sending in mutated warriors and then charging in himself. This battle wasn't that difficult at all either, as I kept to group style with the steel sword and was able to cut down his mutants first. After that he summoned in some fire monsters, but I switched to strong style and focused on him alone. Once he went down they disappeared, then The King of the Wild Hunt appears and demands the master's soul. I could have fought him, but instead decided not to stand in his way. After he disappears I was able to deliver one final coup de grace, then Geralt finds himself back in Vizima inside the Order's cloister. A few short cut scenes later and the game was over, setting things up nicely for the sequel. It was an amazing experience, start to finish. Here's hoping Assassins of Kings is just as good!
