My only exposure to The Witcher is from the advertisement crossover quest in Monster Hunter World. The quest was cracking me up the whole time because Geralt was so stereotypical "cool grizzled guy" in his dialogue and voice acting that I half expected him to say "Psssh… Nothin Personnel… Kid…"

Is he this much of a weenie in The Witcher 3 or did Monster Hunter do him dirty?

  • SoylentSnake [he/him, they/them]
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    5 months ago

    he's actually secretly a softie who loves his friends and is everyone's grouchy dad but it takes a bit to figure this out and at a glance he can feel like shadow the hedgehog levels of edgycool

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
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      edit-2
      5 months ago

      Word. Idk how well it works in the game, but a lot of his aloof badass persona is Geralt coping with being an outsider in a violent, bigoted world. His long life, education, outsider status as a mutant, and regular contact with all kinds of people from different cultures gives him perspective that most normal folks don't have.

      He's a smart, farily compassionate dude with superpowers in a world where trying to use his superpowers to help the oppressed and change things would very quickly get him and the people he loves killed. He's snarky and superficially cynical to try to protect himself from the weight of that.

      But even in the first short story collection he shows that he does care for people deeply, is deeply wounded by bigotry and injustice, and has seen enough weird shit that he judges "monsters" only by who they've hurt and why.

      It is an extremely macho series in many ways, but Geralt is the gruff badass with a heart of gold character rather than just edgelord badass. But he deliberately plays up the edgelord badass thing both to protect his own psyche and to create a legendary impression among the normal humans he interacts with that somewhat protects him from their bigotry and violence.

      Also, it's been a while, but I think a large part of the reason all the cool ladies want to bang him is that he's genuinely a smart, respectful dude who takes women seriously. Being a gorgeous muscleboy who can't get sick, hence can't give you the clap, and can't make you pregnant doesn't hurt either.

    • TraschcanOfIdeology [they/them, comrade/them]
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      5 months ago

      I think Witcher 2 does a pretty cool job of fleshing this out, Witcher 3 relies more on the "omg cool swords and bewbz" that it's harder to see the characterization

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
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        5 months ago

        Yeah, I never played 3, and didn't finish 2, but I remember being really impressed with the characterization and some of the storylines in two. It was ages though so I don't remember specifics.