Novigrad
Before doing anything, enter from the Portside Gate fast travel point and head north. You should come across an event with a she-elf.
Next, continue northwest to the waterfront, and continue west until you find three thugs confronting a noble. Talk to them to start the side quest "A Walk on the Waterfront." Ignoring it causes it to disappear, and it can trigger while you're on Hattori's quest.
Suggested order for main quests:
- Pyres of Novigrad:
- Don't fast travel out of Triss's old house. As you leave, there's a cutscene.
- Stand in a thief circle until you see a Thief, and he gets a distance marker on him.
- Follow him until you get a cutscene with a beggar. Give the beggar some coin for some XP, and don't bother asking about the Putrid Grove.
- Continue following the thief until he makes a handoff. Follow the second thief until the quest updates.
- Go back to the square and talk to the beggar on the scaffold. Exhaust the dialog options, and Geralt will ask about the Putrid Grove on his own. Fast travel to the Glory Gate, and either swim a bit in the water, or go to the gate itself and jump in the water. Directly under the gate is the sewer entrance. Kill the drowners and loot the key, but don't use it.
- Return to the Putrid Grove and enter there.
- Novigrad Dreaming:
- Letting Sarah stay will put her with the dreamer lady, and an extra side quest (a few days later on a notice board).
- Kicking Sarah out will unite her with Johnny, and no extra side quest.
- Broken Flowers:
- Visit Rosa last, and accept her side quest "Fencing Lessons"
- Get Junior, part 1:
- Takes you to Djikstra. After the first converstation, play Gwent with him, then ask him about Dandelion.
- Count Reuven's Treasure:
- Short version: All of the witch hunters die regardless of what you do or say, and you get Dandelion's location anyway. The only variance is how much you're willing to let Triss get tortured.
- The only help Djixtra will give you during "Brothers in Arms" is some coin, and only if you do get the location to his treasure. The only way to get the location of his treasure is to let Triss get tortured to a point, and then ask Menge about it, and then you kill everyone anyway.
- To get through the entire conversation without Menge getting suspicious, don't mention the treasure. Triss will break herself free eventually, and you kill everyone anyway.
- The Gangs of Novigrdad:
- This will fail if you don't use Cleaver's men to wipe out Whoreson's (or ignore it if you want to go about things without the gang's help, and you don't mind it failing).
- The quest tracker will often make "Get Junior" active. Be sure to switch this one back to active at each stage in order for it to successfully adavance and complete
- Talk to Cleaver first to advance it.
- In the Casino, play cards to get taken upstairs. Let Rico go to get the side quest "Honor Among Thieves." Run downstairs as you can, then kill only enough guards to leave combat and get the door to open. Be sure this quest is active, then run to Cleaver's Dwarves and get them to help you. Return to the Casino and the guards will have respawned. Kill them all again to advance the quest.
- At the Arena, convince the guards to let you in peacefully for some XP, then make "The Gangs of Novigrad" active again to have the dwarves follow you in. Kill everything. Loot the key from a dead guard, then the box, then go downstairs and loot a chest.
- Make this quest active again and turn it in to succesfully complete it.
- Get Junior, part 2:
- Complete in whatever order you like.
- After dealing with Whoreson Jr, DO NOT use fast travel to leave, as this fucks up the rest of the game. Just leave by the main gate.
- A Favor for Radovid:
- Get Junior completes and this quest starts in the background. You have one brief period where you can access your quest log to see it, though there's no reason to do so.
- Respond however you like. This will autocomplete and start a side quest, which you should do next.
- Redania's Most Wanted:
- DO NOT fast travel out of Phillipa's hideout.
- Choices:
- A) Give crystal to witch hunters, then report to Radovid
- B) Show crystal to Triss, then give it to her, then report to Radovid
- C) Show crystal to Triss, then give it to Radovid
- D) Show crystal to Triss, then lie to Radovid, then give the crystal to Yennifer
- E) Give crystal to Radovid
- The Play's the Thing:
- Priscilla and Abelard are the "best" choices.
- For a comedy, choose the lines below (a drama would be the opposite):
- "To slay beasts most foul"
- "Perhaps 'midst the guests he hides, in fear?"
- "Seems men's hearts can love for changelings foster!"
- "But a base heart..."
- "No monster is he whose shape can shift."
- A Poet Under Pressure:
- If you let Priscilla stay at the ambush, you can play Gwent with her, but there's no reward for doing so.
- After talking to Dandelion, the halflings will give you a Painting of Heirarch Hemmelfart, and you can give it to Dandelion at his place if you don't want to keep it or sell it.
- A Dangerous Game:
- Given by Zoltan at the front of their Inn.
- You may already have the cards, despite the quest tracker. Just ignore those objectives and keep going.
- Be sure to loot the Soldier Statuette, as this is the only time you can.
- Finish all other side quests.
- A Matter of Life and Death:
- At the Estate, after talking to Moritz, just inside the second gate, hang a right and play some Gwent.
- After this, do both side quests "Novigrad, Closed City."
- One starts on St. Gregory's Bridge.
- The other starts north of the Golden Sturgeon Inn.
- Event: Saving Moritz Diefenthal from the pyre - near Glory Gate, even if fire looks empty, use Aard on it. Kill the guards, then approach the fire to trigger a cutscene.
- Now or Never:
- Be sure both Statuette side quests are done before doing this.
- Gwent: Playing Innkeeps - complete before this
- Also play Roche at Gwent before this
- When it's time to go down into the sewers, Triss may not initially follow you. Save and reload. She's also very finicky during the sewers, but you should just be able to run back and forth to her to get her to follow.
- A Deadly Plot - auto accepts after Now or Never
- You can play Gwent with Thaler later at the Seven Cats Inn
- The actual assassination takes place later, during "Final Preparations."