History Awesome / TheWitcher2AssassinsOfKings

* The final confrontation with Letho during the epilogue, should you choose to fight him. When the player first faces him in Chapter I, Letho is the strongest enemy faced in the game. An unprepared player could be killed within seconds. But during the epilogue, it seems that the VillainForgotToLevelGrind, bringing Geralt to at least Letho's level of power, if not, much higher. Winning this fight is very satisfying when you consider Letho is the one who put Geralt in this mess in the first place. And believes himself the superior warrior, playing on your fear of failure. Though perhaps, he's just trying to convince you to spare him - as he knows that Geralt's memories have all returned [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter and considering that Geralt defeated the Slyzard that almost killed him...]]

** The moment before the
attempted execution counts, too.

* The end of Chapter II on the Roche path is this as well. Geralt lifts Sabrina Glevissig's magical malediction upon Henselt, ''then'' saves the Kaedweni monarch again from the Viper witchers: Serrit and Auckes. And manages to kill one of the brothers in the skirmish, cutting off Auckes' leg above the knee then splitting his head open with an overhead chop, ''while he's flying up in a reverse clothes-line''. * After Sile's betrayal, Roche and Geralt fight their way through ''all'' of Henselt's rear-guard and can even hold the king's life in their hands despite his victory at Vergen.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwCXw8m0PHI The opening cinematic of Witcher 2's Enhanced Edition]] that shows Letho of Gulet assassinating Demavend, king of Aedirn. Letho uses a magical bomb to freeze nearly everyone on the deck of Demavend's ahip, evades blows and incoming arrows with his cat-like agility and [[HumanShield hides behind a dying swordsman]] to protect himself from a mage's [[LudicrousGibs psychokinetic blast]]; cutting through the remains of Demavend's retinue in seconds, he decapitates the king and leaves without a trace.

* The fact that Iorveth has defeated the commanders and units of ''every'v Northern special forces regiment and collected their emblems. Vernon Roche is the last on his list. And even when ambushed by the Blue Stripes and Loredo's goons at Cáelmewedd, if Geralt gives him his sword, he only loses the three commandos that die in the cutscene, driving the rest away with catastrophic losses. That's what a warrior the elf really is, for all the claims that he shoots people from behind trees.

* Roche's BigDamnHeroes moment in Henselt's camp - [[TrueCompanions in Iorveth's path]]. As the Nilfgaardians are about to execute Geralt, Roche and Ves come to his rescue and they slaughter the Black Ones together.

* How Geralt resolves the situation with Aryan La Valette. When the latter's forces provide a bloody bottleneck for Foltest's knights, Geralt can reach his position and either kill Aryan in a duel, kill Aryan and all of his men... Or [[BrutalHonesty tell Aryan that he is being an idiot and his last stand will be completely pointless and achieve nothing]]. That 'works'', causing Aryan and his men to surrender without a fight.

* The fact that Iorveth has defeated the commanders and units of ''every Northern special forces regiment'' and collected their emblems. Roche is the last on his list and even when ambushed by the Blue Stripes and Loredo's goons at Cáelmewedd, if Geralt gives him his sword; ''he only loses the two men that Fenn snipes with his crossbow and the one that Roche bashes with his flanged mace'', driving the rest away with catastrophic losses. That's what a warrior the elf really is, for all the claims that he shoots people from behind trees.
** Also, the way the infamous elven bandit roars: [[BattleCry "VRIHEDD!"]] The name of his nearly extinct unit. Of which only he and Isengrim Faoiltiarna were [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat the only surviving officers]] of those [[ThePurge executed by the North]] at the Ravine of the Hydra.

** Geralt nutting one of the morons in the face, stealing his sword and cleaving him open. While Iorveth shoulder lifts-barges a guy over the gunwale and into the Pontar with his hands tied. Then he breaks the rope cuffs and retrieves the borrowed sword Geralt throws him, which lands point first in an unfortunate mook's chest right behind him for the Scoia'tael guerrilla to rip free!
** Their BackToBackBadasses pose on the deck of the prison galley, after they take out said three of Loredo's goons.
* Roche's BigDamnHeroes moment in Henselt's camp. [[TrueCompanions In Iorveth's path]].

-->'''Geralt:''' [[ShutUpHannibal Plough yourself, Nilfgaardian.]]
* The end of Chapter II on the Iorveth path is this as a whole at the Battle of Vergen. Boiling oil gets poured on the Kaedweni soldiers and set alight, Geralt and company put up a spirited defense on the walls, a pair of trolls potentially join in on the action, and Saskia reveals [[ThisWasHisTrueForm her true form]] to Geralt while saving his life. And just when things are about to get hairy, Iorveth arrives in a glorious BigDamnHeroes moment, and Saskia giving a DareToBeBadass RousingSpeech to her demoralized assembled troops, raising their spirits again. In the end, a small ragtag rebel army consisting of untrained peasants, a handful of knights, some men at arms, dwarven civilians, trolls and Scoia'tael archers manage to beat the army of the most powerful northern kingdom which has them outnumbered 5 to 1. Henselt's humiliation and concessions afterwards are the cherry on top.
* The end of Chapter II on the Roche path is this as well. Geralt lifts Sabrina Glevissig's magical malediction upon Henselt, ''then'' saves the Kaedweni monarch again from the Viper witchers: Serrit and Auckes. And manages to kill one of the brothers in the skirmish, cutting off Auckes' leg above the knee then splitting his head open with an overhead chop, ''while he's flying up in a reverse clothes-line''. After Sile's betrayal, Roche and Geralt fight their way through ''all'' of Henselt's rear-guard and can even hold the king's life in their hands despite his victory at Vergen.

* At the end of both paths, if Geralt chooses to save Triss from Nilfgaard's compound. He storms the place all on his own, planning to trade hostages by capturing the, until recently, unflappable Shilard Fitz-Oesterlen. Unfortunately, Renuald aep Matsen, the Emperor's military presence at the summit, [[ShootTheHostage decides to just shoot the ambassador instead]], and when Geralt is left alone, faced down by the very elite of the Imperial army, he gives us [[PreAssKickingOneLiner this one, very, blood-chilling condemnation.]]

* The new combat system is more action-packed and reflects the kind of combat in the first game's intro movie. The first game's combat system was an uneasy combination of real-time and turn-based, leaning towards real-time, but the second game's combat gave a much stronger sense of Geralt's agility and versatility. This makes a systemic moment of awesome that harkens to the very first experience anyone has with the first game.
** Witcher 2's Enhanced Edition reinforces this with its [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwCXw8m0PHI new opening cinematic]]. Letho displaying his combat tactics from throwing an archer off-balance with a magical bomb, evading blows with his cat-like agility and finally [[HumanShield hiding behind a dying swordsman]] to protect himself from a mage's [[LudicrousGibs psychokinetic blast]]; not only marks him as a credible threat for Geralt but also showcases legitimate combat tactics for the actual game-play (save for some GameplayAndStorySegregation like Letho actually grabbing his HumanShield instead of tricking him into the line of fire.)
* The first time you do a Group Finisher - your jaw ''will'' drop from how [[IncrediblyLamePun bloody awesome]] it is.
** For example, [[http://youtu.be/2EVSQM98NTg this particular finisher]]. And that's one of the ''tamer'' ones!
** Similarly, the first time you insta-kill an ''elemental'', a monster so tough that fighting it can turn into an unexpected boss battle.

-->'''Foltest:''' What ''[[SophisticatedAsHell the fuck]]'' do we want?!

** Jesse himself said it best:
-->'''Jesse Cox:''' Best... king... ever...
** Just before, as he and the Nilfgaardian ambassador are talking, a ballista bolt fly near them. The Nilfgaardian runs for cover while Foltest barely move, taking his time explaining the functionnment and advantages of the Countess' ballistes, before outlining their major flaw: Due to the heavy recoil, they ''can't'' hit twice at the same place.

* For a villainous example of awesome, Letho's MagnificentBastard and OneManArmy status through the game, playing several factions like the Lodge of Sorceresses like a fiddle, assassinating Kings and sowing chaos and war in the North, all while being consistently underestimated as nothing more than a big dumb brute thanks to how he looks and ObfuscatingStupidity. And even if Geralt decides to kill him, [[YouAreTooLate by the time]] he catches Letho TheBadGuyWins in his mission to prepare the North for invasion. On top of that there are his revelations to Geralt that he is a much more complicated and grey character than the straight up villain he looks like. His revelations include that he and his fellow Vipers fought the [[TheWildHunt Wild Hunt]] at [[WeUsedToBeFriends Geralt's side]] after leading him to them to repay him for [[IOweYouMyLife saving his life]], saved and protected Yennefer in his absence, can potentially save Triss for Geralt by cutting his way through a Nilfgaardian camp of their elite soldiers, and his motives are revealed not to be malevolent or genuinely loyal to the Emperor, but that he was [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse coerced]] into it with the promise he would be able to [[FightingForAHomeland restore the School of the Viper]] for his fellow oppressed southern Witchers [[AntiVillain all along]].

* For a villainous example of awesome, Letho's MagnificentBastard and OneManArmy status through the game, playing several factions like the Lodge of Sorceresses like a fiddle, assassinating Kings and sowing chaos and war in the North, all while being consistently underestimated as nothing more than a big dumb brute thanks to how he looks and ObfuscatingStupidity. And even if Geralt decides to kill him, [[YouAreTooLate by the time]] he catches Letho TheBadGuyWins in his mission to prepare the North for invasion. On top of that there are his revelations to Geralt that he is a much more complicated and grey character than the straight up villain he looks like. His revelations include that he and his fellow Vipers fought the [[TheWildHunt Wild Hunt]] at [[WeUsedToBeFriends Geralt's side]] after leading him to them to repay him for [[IOweYouMyLife saving his life]], saved and protected Yennefer in his absence, and his motives are revealed not to be malevolent or genuinely loyal to the Emperor, but that he was [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse coerced]] into it with the promise he would be able to [[FightingForAHomeland restore the School of the Viper]] for his fellow oppressed southern Witchers [[AntiVillain all along]].

** Losing the fistfight with him in Chapter II is almost worth it. If - you know, Vernon was [[UpToEleven stronger than a Striga!]]

* A Meta moment: On Website/FourChan's /v/ board, someone asked for help cracking the game... [[http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/04/30/4chan-defends-witcher-2-developer-cd-projekt-red-from-pirates/ he was promptly told to]] "[[PrecisionFStrike Fuck off and buy the damn game]]" ''multiple'' times, rewarding Creator/CDProjektRed's faith that if they treat their customers with respect, they would get respect back.
** Aside from this, the company also detailed that the game ''had'' been pirated... but oddly enough, the pirated copy was the copy ''with'' DRM, while the one without DRM was nowhere to be seen on torrents.
* Another meta moment came when [[PolishedPort the Enhanced Edition]] for the UsefulNotes/XBox360 came out. What did Creator/CDProjektRed do? Instead of charging those who previously bought the game on PC for the new content like Creator/ElectronicArts, Creator/{{Capcom}}, or Creator/{{Activision}}, they released every bit of new content (over 4 hours of new gameplay, as well as a soundtrack, interviews and concept art) ''all for free.'' If that doesn't win a consumer's respect for Creator/CDProjektRed, I don't know what will.
** They also give DRM-free copies to any customer who emails them with proof that they purchased it on Steam. There's really no reason they should do that, but they do anyway. The Steam version now comes with a code that, when entered into GOG, gives a DRM-free copy.

* For a villainous example of awesome, Letho's MagnificentBastard and OneManArmy status through the game, playing several factions like the Lodge of Sorceresses like a fiddle, assassinating Kings and sowing chaos and war in the North, all while being consistently underestimated as nothing more than a big dumb brute thanks to how he looks and ObfuscatingStupidity. And even if Geralt decides to kill him, [[YouAreTooLate by the time]] he catches Letho TheBadGuyWins in his mission to prepare the North for invasion. On top of that there are his revelations to Geralt that he is a much more complicated and grey character than the straight up villain he looks like. His revelations include that he and his fellow Vipers fought the [[TheWildHunt Wild Hunt]] at Geralt's side after leading him to them to repay him for [[IOweYouMyLife saving his life]], saved and protected Yennefer in his absence, and his motives are revealed not to be malevolent or genuinely loyal to the Emperor, but that he was coerced into it with the promise he would be able to [[FightingForAHomeland restore the School of the Viper]] for his fellow oppressed southern Witchers [[AntiVillain all along]].

* The end of Chapter II on the Iorveth path is this as a whole at the Battle of Vergen. Boiling oil gets poured on the Kaedweni soldiers and set alight, Geralt and company put up a spirited defense on the walls, a pair of trolls potentially join in on the action, and Saskia reveals [[ThisWasHisTrueForm her true form]] to Geralt while saving his life. And just when things are about to get hairy, Iorveth arrives in a glorious BigDamnHeroes moment, and Saskia giving a DareToBeBadass RousingSpeech to her demoralized assembled troops, raising their spirits again. In the end, a small ragtag rebel army consisting of untrained peasants, a handful of knights, some men at arms, dwarven civilians, and Scoia'tael archers manage to beat the army of the most powerful northern kingdom which has them outnumbered 5 to 1. Henselt's humiliation and concessions afterwards are the cherry on top.

* For a villainous example of awesome, Letho's MagnificentBastard and OneManArmy status through the game, playing several factions like the Lodge of Sorceresses like a fiddle, assassinating Kings and sowing chaos and war in the North, all while being consistently underestimated as nothing more than a big dumb brute thanks to how he looks and ObfuscatingStupidity. And even if Geralt decides to kill him, [[YouAreTooLate by the time]] he catches Letho TheBadGuyWins in his mission to prepare the North for invasion. On top of that there are his revelations to Geralt that he is a much more complicated and grey character than the straight up villain he looks like. His revelations include that he and his fellow Vipers fought [[TheWildHunt the Wild Hunt]] at Geralt's side after leading him to them to repay him for [[IOweYouMyLife saving his life]], saved and protected Yennefer in his absence, and his motives are revealed not to be malevolent or genuinely loyal to the Emperor, but that he was coerced into it with the promise he would be able to [[FightingForAHomeland restore the School of the Viper]] for his fellow oppressed southern Witchers [[AntiVillain all along]].

* For a villainous example of awesome, Letho's MagnificentBastard and OneManArmy status through the game, playing several factions like the Lodge of Sorceresses like a fiddle, assassinating Kings and sowing chaos and war in the North, all while being consistently underestimated as nothing more than a big dumb brute thanks to how he looks and ObfuscatingStupidity. And even if Geralt decides to kill him, [[YouAreTooLate by the time]] he catches Letho TheBadGuyWins in his mission to prepare the North for invasion. On top of that there are his revelations to Geralt that he is a much more complicated and grey character than the straight up villain he looks like. His revelations include that he and his fellow Vipers fought [[TheWildHunt WildHunt]] at Geralt's side after leading him to them to repay him for [[IOweYouMyLife saving his life]], saved and protected Yennefer in his absence, and his motives are revealed not to be malevolent or genuinely loyal to the Emperor, but that he was coerced into it with the promise he would be able to [[FightingForAHomeland restore the School of the Viper]] for his fellow oppressed southern Witchers [[AntiVillain all along]].

* For a villainous example of awesome, Letho's MagnificentBastard and OneManArmy status through the game, playing several factions like the Lodge of Sorceresses like a fiddle, assassinating Kings and sowing chaos and war in the North, all while being consistently underestimated as nothing more than a big dumb brute thanks to how he looks and ObfuscatingStupidity. And even if Geralt decides to kill him, [[YouAreTooLate by the time]] he catches Letho TheBadGuyWins in his mission to prepare the North for invasion. On top of that there are his revelations to Geralt that he is a much more complicated and grey character than the straight up villain he looks like. His revelations include that he and his fellow Vipers fought the WildHunt at Geralt's side after leading him to them to repay him for [[IOweYouMyLife saving his life]], saved and protected Yennefer in his absence, and his motives are revealed not to be malevolent or genuinely loyal to the Emperor, but that he was coerced into it with the promise he would be able to [[FightingForAHomeland restore the School of the Viper]] for his fellow oppressed southern Witchers [[AntiVillain all along]].

* The end of Chapter II on the Iorveth path is this as a whole at the Battle of Vergen. Boiling oil gets poured on the Kaedweni soldiers and set alight, Geralt and company put up a spirited defense on the walls, a pair of trolls potentially join in on the action, and Saskia reveals [[ThisWasHisTrueForm her true form]] to Geralt while saving his life. And just when things are about to get hairy, Iorveth arrives in a glorious BigDamnHeroes moment, and Saskia giving a DareToBeBadass RousingSpeech to her demoralized assembled troops, raising their spirits again. In the end, a small ragtag rebel army consisting of untrained peasants, a handful of knights, some dwarven civilians, and Scoia'tael archers manage to beat the army of the most powerful northern kingdom which has them outnumbered 5 to 1. Henselt's humiliation is the cherry on top.

* For a villainous example of awesome, Letho's MagnificentBastard and OneManArmy status through the game, playing several factions like the Lodge of Sorceresses like a fiddle, assassinating Kings and sowing chaos and war in the North, all while being consistently underestimated as nothing more than a big dumb brute thanks to how he looks and ObfuscatingStupidity. And even if Geralt decides to kill him, [[YouAreTooLate by the time]] he catches Letho TheBadGuyWins in his mission to prepare the North for invasion. On top of that his revelations to Geralt that he is a much more complicated and grey character than a straight up villain. His revelations include that he fought the Wild Hunt at Geralt's side after leading him to them to repay him for [[IOweYouMyLife saving his life]], saved and protected Yennefer in his absence, and his motives are revealed not to be malevolent or genuinely loyal to the Emperor, but that he was coerced into it with the promise he would be able to [[FightingForAHomeland restore the School of the Viper]] for his fellow oppressed southern Witchers [[AntiVillain all along]].

* For a villainous example of awesome, Letho's MagnificentBastard status through the game, playing several factions like the Lodge like a fiddle, assassinating Kings and sowing chaos and war in the North, all while being consistently underestimated as nothing more than a big dumb brute thanks to how he looks and ObfuscatingStupidity. And even if Geralt decides to kill him, [[YouAreTooLate by the time]] he catches Letho TheBadGuyWins in his mission to prepare the North for invasion. On top of that his revelations to Geralt that he is a much more complicated and grey character than a straight up villain. His revelations include that he fought the Wild Hunt at Geralt's side after leading him to them to repay him for [[IOweYouMyLife saving his life]], saved and protected Yennefer in his absence, and his motives are revealed not to be malevolent or genuinely loyal to the Emperor, but that he was coerced into it with the promise he would be able to restore the School of the Viper for his fellow oppressed southern Witchers [[AntiVillain all along]].

** One of Vernon's first lines in the game is ''ridiculously'' badass when you look at it in hindsight. When Geralt says: "I thought you died." He's speaking of when the Blue Stripes Commander was ''hit with a jet of dragon-flame before the bridge he was lying stunned on collapsed under the brown dragon's weight as it attempted to kill Foltest and Geralt''. Roche's mild and collected response? [[BadassBoast "I'm not so easy to kill."]]

* The end of Chapter II on the Iorveth path is this as a whole at the Battle of Vergen. Boiling oil gets poured on the Kaedweni soldiers and set alight, Geralt and company put up a spirited defense on the walls, a pair of trolls potentially join in on the action, and Saskia reveals [[ThisWasHisTrueForm her true form]] to Geralt while saving his life. And just when things are about to get hairy, Iorveth arrives in a glorious BigDamnHeroes moment, and Saskia giving a DareToBeBadass RousingSpeech to her assembled troops. In the end, a small ragtag rebel army consisting of untrained peasants, a handful of knights, some dwarven civilians, and Scoia'tael archers manage to beat the army of the most powerful northern kingdom which has them outnumbered 5 to 1. Henselt's humiliation is the cherry on top.

* The end of Chapter II on the Iorveth path is this as a whole at the Battle of Vergen. Boiling oil gets poured on the Kaedweni soldiers and set alight, Geralt and company put up a spirited defense on the walls, a pair of trolls potentially join in on the action, and Saskia reveals [[ThisWasHisTrueForm her true form]] to Geralt while saving his life. And just when things are about to get hairy, Iorveth arrives in a glorious BigDamnHeroes moment. In the end, a small ragtag rebel army consisting of untrained peasants, a handful of knights, some dwarven civilians, and Scoia'tael archers manage to beat the army of the most powerful northern kingdom which has them outnumbered 5 to 1. Henselt's humiliation is the cherry on top.

-->'''Vernon:''' You can't give back what you took from me... Cutting your balls off and slitting your throat will have to do. ''[[HolyShitQuotient (does just that, but stuffs his severed testicles into his mouth before administering the coup de grace)]]'' You reap what you sow.

* Iorveth and Geralt's [[RefugeInAudacity plan]] to save the non-human convicts at the end of Chapter I by faking the Elven leader's capture!

* Another meta moment came when [[PolishedPort the Enhanced Edition]] for the UsefulNotes/XBox360 came out. What did CDProjektRed do? Instead of charging those who previously bought the game on PC for the new content like Creator/ElectronicArts, Creator/{{Capcom}}, or Creator/{{Activision}}, they released every bit of new content (over 4 hours of new gameplay, as well as a soundtrack, interviews and concept art) ''all for free.'' If that doesn't win a consumer's respect for CDProjektRed, I don't know what will.

** They also give DRM-free copies to any customer who emails them with proof that they purchased it on Steam. There's really no reason they should do that, but they do anyway.

* Geralt's showdown with a young dragon on the roof of a burning castle tower. In the lore, even being ''near'' an angry dragon is tantamount to ''suicide''. After a lengthy duel on the ground the Witcher latches onto the fire wyrm's neck with his steel sword and just manages to hold on throughout some aerial acrobatics, he then digs his trophy hook under Saesenthesis's [[EyeScream eyelid]] for leverage - and pulls her into an uncontrollable spiraling loop; crashing her chest first into a [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice jagged tree.]] Deciding to either spare Saskia, who is mind controlled, or putting her out of her misery is certainly going to play a big part in the Wild Hunt.

* Another meta moment came when [[PolishedPort the Enhanced Edition]] for the UsefulNotes/XBox360 came out. What did CDProjektRed do? Instead of charging those who previously bought the game on PC for the new content like ElectronicArts, {{Capcom}}, or Creator/{{Activision}}, they released every bit of new content (over 4 hours of new gameplay, as well as a soundtrack, interviews and concept art) ''all for free.'' If that doesn't win a consumer's respect for CDProjektRed, I don't know what will.

* Another meta moment came when [[PolishedPort the Enhanced Edition]] for the {{Xbox 360}} came out. What did CDProjektRed do? Instead of charging those who previously bought the game on PC for the new content like ElectronicArts, {{Capcom}}, or Creator/{{Activision}}, they released every bit of new content (over 4 hours of new gameplay, as well as a soundtrack, interviews and concept art) ''all for free.'' If that doesn't win a consumer's respect for CDProjektRed, I don't know what will.

** Similarly, the first time you insta-kill a ''golem'', a monster so tough that fighting it can turn into an unexpected boss battle.