Both temple isle and the oxenfurt academy were supposed to have more content, but were both cut due to time constraints.

I think also one of the most underrated aspects of the game is the music production. The OST you experience, especially when you get to Skellige (in your first ever playthrough imo) is one of the best immersing experiences you'll ever get to take in. Truly a Top 5 games of all time. Hope CDPR blows expectations out of the water too with Witcher 4

At least Temple Isle is completely rendered and modeled. I think the University of Oxenfurt is a worse offender. Only one quest takes you there and even that is of a very isolated area. If you manage to glitch yourself into the university, you'll find that it's not even modeled beyond the tiny area said quest takes place in. Given how frequently the university is mentioned, it's kind of a shame you never really get to see it.

Funny, but the temple isle was actually the place where I ended my 150-hour long playthrough of the game. After completing everything I wanted to complete and after all the endings I stripped Geralt to just his undewear, put on a mandrake mask, grabbed an incense and left Geralt standing next to the eternal fire, contemplating his achievements :)

There is also one other reason to visit Temple Isle - it is the location of Whoreson Junior's house, which you can visit during the "Get Junior" quest.

You forgot the one hidden side quest where you search for Nilfgaarfian spy notes in order to open a loot. On Temple isle you are ambushed in the house of a woman spy.

The way I see it, any area with a place of power is a good area as that is a simple and easy free skill point. So Temple is mostly baron but it does have that and the Cat Gear cave which is cool.

Man it's been 8 YEARS since this game was released and people are still making amazing videos about it....❤️

Tbh I don't need every area to be filled with quests or be super relevant. Temple Isle fleshes out the city by simply existing - it not only makes Novigrad even larger, more diverse and affords it more verticality, it also serves as the seat of power for the city's government. By not being super story relevant the world as a whole also seems like it is an actual place rather than just a theme park built around the player and what he does. I am glad Temple Isle exists, it does its part in making Novigrad my favorite fantasy city in all of gaming.

To me, it's not a problem... the rest of the world is large enough to play with ! And the architecture is smooth and not neglected, mark of CDPR's dedication! And yes, no game has come close as this one in my heart and gaming life... it's been 8 years already.❤

What i heard from some devs when they got interviewed in german is that they deleted a quest around Hierarch Cyrus Engelkind Hemmelfart related to the witch-hunters on the temple island. And in Novigrad they also cancelled a quest with more story around the Beggar-King with a complete big building to enter. And the devils pit in Velen was originally supposed to bear a quest where u meet Saskia. I just hope before they throw TW4 they throw some sort of enhanced edition of TW3 with added cut content as warm up because there are many locations in Velen, Skellige and also Toussant which look like they were supposed to get more meaning but didnt made it at the end.

I think it is sometimes realistic when you can't enter any building and interact with any character. Maybe it was assumed that those people were busy or just forbidden to talk to a witcher? Of course, the Church of the Eternal Fire condemns the very existence of witchers... Yes, in other parts of the game you can at least meet many monsters, find loot or bandit camps. But I also think that this "emptiness" makes the Temple Isle unique. Me personally, I liked just walking there, and I made quite a few beautiful screenshots from the roofs nearby :)

I think it's due mainly to cut content but I think there's also a bit of storytelling in its lack of content as well. Temple Isle is home to the highest and mighty, the Church and the Hierarch who we pretty much never see in game despite his importance. I think Geralt is just _beneath_ it all, in a way. The people here are socially inaccessible to us. The musical ambience here especially at night gives me a feeling of loneliness like I'm not really supposed to be there.

Im willing to bet that the Temple Isle was much more used in the planned catriona plague questline that got scrapped.

Seems like there are a couple places where Ciri's main quests occur that have next to nothing there in other quests. Temple Isle, southeast of the Lidenvale graveyard where she fights the Wolf King, long spans of territory that Ciri's quests happen in that nothing else seems to occur. Often wondered if there was some sort of issue with quest implementation where Ciri has to travel in her quests. Also that tower that Ciri races to has next to nothing along the way to that tower until you get to the fortress where the Griffin School armor diagrams, I think, are at the extreme northern point of the land.

Using a free-cam mod you used to be able to clip through the walls of the palace on the rear side and find rooms at levels below the ground relative to the front side. On the right side of the palace, if you circle around counter-clockwise, there is a locked door, and to the right there is a path down the rocky cliff you can climb down--or up--leading to some scaffolding on some building below the palace. It all looks like there used to be a way to get onto the isle through a secret back-door path, which they mostly dismantled, but there are lots of hints to it, including a pair of shoes to be found toward the path and some loot to be had. Also, starting from the market on Elector's Square, a series of causeways and doorways leading to the palace square. Below Elector's Square there are lots of alleyways etc, but one very peculiar one. Some steps lead down to what appears to be a well or cistern blocked by iron bars, which is at the end of the path; so it's a cul-de-sac. But there is a constant stream of NPC's wandering into this cul-de-sac, simply turning around and leaving again. It appears to me that they put some NPC-pathing down there, then closed off the alley and forgot to take the NPC-pathing out. All in all there are so many dangling strings, they must have put a considerable amount of effort into preparing the area for a serious quest-line. Maybe there was a connection with the Devil's Pit, being that the Temple and corruption connects the two irrevocably. Sigh, so much DLC just waiting to be completed.

I think the eternal fire deleted quest theory makes a lot of sense. I never thought about it, but this church is actually quite relevant in the worldbuilding of the game, and is heavily important and mentioned in a lot of quests and lore items. So it's truly a little weird that there isn't a quest specifically dedicated to it.

Oxenfurt as a whole also feels underutilized, even with a few DLC quests taking place there. The university is mostly closed off, and for a major city, there isn't that much to do.

It also has a Place of Power (Igni) and the enhanced Cat gear (and I think, the Witcher that was tortured until he went mad). But all of that is optional.

I was gutted that the University in Oxenfurt is closed 😢

Let's not forget that a whole lot of content was cut , due to CDPR being pressed to release the Game. And that's saying a lot considering the amount of content that is in the Game. But yeah, that's why some areas feel somewhat empty, some characters feel like they were supposed to have a bigger role, and sometimes some NPCs reference some places or things that seem random. The saddest part for me is that a lot of Nilfgaardian content was cut like that. We never really get to explore the Faction beyond them being presented as "the bad guys" most of the time. Emhyr is criminally underused despite being a crucial character of the franchise and having pulled an absolute master-move in The Witcher 2. And similarly i kept getting the feeling that Morvran Voorhis was meant to have a bigger role, hence you regularly bump into him here and there. Geralt's hostility towards him when asking Emhyr for reinforcements literally comes out of nowhere.

There is a very small side quest with a women on the covered road to the temple I dont remember much of it but I am pretty sure there was a quest there

I still kind of like the vibe of Temple Isle despite its emptiness. Kind of feels like the summit of Novigrad in the same way one might associate the Parthenon with Athens, albeit perhaps less grand!

Good video - of course the title is clickbait but I was surprised there were exactly 0 quests on Temple Isle. Even the Radovid questline terminates just before Temple Isle, not on it itself. I remember finding some things to do in the caves beneath the Isle but nothing on it itself. Would it have killed them to have added in a quest or two in the patches/expansions?

Also imagine if there was a quest that connected both the things that were happening in the church behind the scenes, AND the cave beneath Temple Isle where you find Kiyan. You could have some of the more elite members of the church know about what was right beneath them and try to get Geralt to sweep the place and bring them whatever valuables were inside, plus rid them of the crazy witcher in there, or maybe you could uncover some sort of connection between that mage, what was going on inside the cave, and the church of the eternal fire. Since none of these (except the cult of the eternal fire which I'm not sure about) are constrained by the lore in the books, CDPR could have most probably come up with a really cool story to take Novigrad's Eternal Fire lore to the next level. Another example of what happens when you don't give talented people enough time to work on cool things.. but it is true that the game is pretty massive even without Temple Isle. Though, I wouldn't go as far as to say it's better that they cut this piece of content out for the people who complained about the game's length. Imo if you play this game and get bored and drop it halfway through the main storyline, it's probably just that the story or gameplay or vibe isn't for you.. so with or without some extra quests in Novigrad, I doubt it would have made a real difference. Awesome video btw, I'm replaying the game now and have noticed quite a few things I didn't pay attention to during my first playthrough. The absence of anything to do around Temple Isle also stuck out to me when I got there a few days ago, so this was good timing 😅

I wish that instead of making the temple Isle, CDPR would instead have used the time it took to make it, to make a medium sized city in some other part of the world. We only really have 3 cities in the Witcher: Novigrad, Oxenfurt and Toussaint. Kaer Trolde is really just a large village. A city in Velen would be quite nice

i remember a quest there with a conflict between families and i had to visit and explore most of the mansions up there.

That alchemist/priest was difficult to find at first (couldn’t find the path to Temple Isle), but I needed to find him to get his Gwent card.

Great video. FYI, I think there’s another quest location. You can raid Ciprian Wiley’s townhouse on Temple Isle, with a bunch of angry dwarves, as part of the Gangs of Novigrad questline.

The real crime is Looking at Geralts short here 😂

When you look at the city during the night from temple isle it is very nice,so it is not bed place at all

I never really thought anything about the temple isle being empty. But you did remind me being very dissappointed that there was really no questline for the church of eternal fire. The whole game I wished there'd be a questline for it and it felt like there was supposed to be one. I wished I could pretty much annihilate the whole gosh darn cult, I hated it so much. But in the end, no, there never was one. The church just exists and nothing else to it really gameplay wise

I would definitely buy a DLC, where they would add questlines with the Church of the eternal fire or the Plague.

That's not Skellige with it's underwater caches though

I remember play one mission in this place. The game bugged so hard that I could access some of the areas. One in special its a treasure room quite big with gold all over the floor and some chests that had a set of armor of the eternal fire, pretty good stats

There is actually a small sidequest in temple isle many seems to have missed where a lady is calling for help (its below that large roof-covered patch of area on the map of temple isle, iirc). Stumbled upon it when I was trying to find the route to get to the feline armor diagram treasure hunt. Went in circles a lot because I never knew it was under the isle lol.

It's such a damn shame I could not kill the "holy flame" with Aard... and when I tried, nobody even reacted to my transgressions

The only reason i went there was because of the Ciri quest,because i was wondering where in the city was that place. And after i saw the only thing was there was the place of power and dipped.

Temple Isle in Novigrad was pretty lackluster. No shops, 1 merchant, and hardly and quests.

For me personally, I actually thought that Temple Isle being "empty" from a gameplay standpoint added to the immersion. It gave the whole area a more sinister, closed-off kind of vibe. It was almost as if it was a mandate of the church that outsiders were to be kept at arm's length, so as not risk revealing any church business. It gave the Eternal Flame a much more culty feel to it. The fact that the only merchant who will deal with you also happens to be an alchemist just adds to it: only a corrupt member of the clergy would operate outside the rules of the church kind of thing. Maybe I'm just weird lol, but I thought Temple Isle being void of things for the player to do actually made some sense, and even added to the immersion, at least for me...

Technically you have to go *under* Temple Isle to get diagrams for the armor in one of the 'Cat School Armor' treasure hunt quests. There's also a priest vendor there in Elector's Square who quietly sells alchemical items and he's the only one who sells a book required to complete the side-quest "Free Spirit" that Geralt gives to the quest-giver who is trying to convince their lover to quit being a priestess of Freya on Skellige (this quest is easy to miss since it's on an island far north of Ard Skellige that the player isn't required to go to). Geralt can also briefly chat with the alchemist priest and has harsh words for him, saying he dislikes priests and that you'd need to pay him to even talk to one. During the quest where Geralt hunts down Whoreson Junior, Geralt can also go to his hideout which is technically on Temple Isle but not in the main area and can [SPOILER] go there again to meet Whoreson Junior with Ciri later on. Aside from that though, I'd agree that Temple Isle is disappointing and I was surprised I can't even go inside the main shrine or chapel area or even run into Hierarch Hemmelfart himself at some point (they should've at least had him come out in public and give a speech at some point maybe towards the end).

You need the alchemist on Temple Isle to get the book The Cult of Freya to complete the Free Spirit quest.

I spent too much time in this area trying to find the entrance to that cave that has the witcher gear at the very end of the isle

I found the cave under temple isle without any help from outside sources ... it was hell to find the entrance

Even with no quests in temple isle its still insanely immersive and fun to explore.

Great video! I always found it such mystery why temple isle and oxenfurt was so empty if you ever like have a chance I hope you make a video about dragon age!! I love those series especially after playing witcher 3

i remember the place for one reason because i did a glitch to be able to use ciri's sword as geralt

I think a big part of it is temple isle is a big part of the books, as is the college. If it wasn’t made it would make no sense, because everyone would talk about an area you can’t see or doesn’t exist. So it makes sense they made it but didn’t exactly have a lot to do with it.

I didn't even visit Temple Isle in my near 100% 1st playthrough, was amazed at how big and detailed it was on my 2nd. No quest npcs but there was some cool exploration

An area that I traveled to quite often, but did relatively little at is Oxenfurt.

I always hate the swamps near crookback bog getting stuck in these really deep holes everywhere

About not finishing the game. They said that many players stopped at around 80% of the story, which is probably around battle of Kear Morhen. That mission seems to many, like it did to me as the final mission, i genuinely though that this was the end, so i was completely surprised when there were mission after

I think that you’re almost correct. I’d say that Oxenfurt University is “worst” location in the game as it is closed for the entirety of the game except for one optional and missable mission in Hearts of Stone. On top of that, you can never go back after leaving. Temple Isle has a fully explorable location with several missions, and a place of power. Oxenfurt has one mission. That’s it. I’d say that that warrants the title “most boring patch of land in the Witcher 3”

There is another kinda empty area in the game. South Velen is filled with cannibals and some other monsters, but there isn't really a question. There is also another village in Velen with supposedly cut content. Apparently there was another large questline around that plague Keira mentions which was also scrapped.

It took about 3 Novel for Geralt to find Ciri after she went missing, and he only got delayed with side quests when he was stuck and waited for spring. The game had big!

Are there any cut content mods that add some or all of the cut content for this area?

I never even thought of going up there because I thought it was sealed off by the Guards

Only thing I found in Temple isle was the quest for the Cat School gear.

It's like The Devil's Pit in Velen. They didn't finished it back in the day it but they added new mission in Next Gen update. One of the best missions in the Witcher.

Part of "Novigrad, closed city" takes place on temple isle

I actually get there outside of any quests only on my 4th playthough. This and Oxenfurt. But CDPR added new quest in empty Devil's Pit. Maybe one day on 10th anniversary or whatever they make another DLC with university and church. I mean, with them in is not impossible.

Great video as usual. The ending leaves me a bit sad, as it just shows the slop people favor with complaining about getting too much for their money...

Only time I remember going there was to get the cat school gear

I think it would've been cool if they included Temple Isle in the search for Ciri. Like if Geralt goes there to investigate after Dandelion tells him she was there, and maybe have some sort of small magical anomaly as a result of Ciri's teleport similar to Skellige, or just some remnant to indicate that she teleported. Just some note about Ciri in Temple Isle would've been nice.

I was also disappointed in the tamirian rebels quest that went no where. I wanted to have the choice to fight with them more

Lol I’ve only ran up there for the place of power and if I need a close alchemist the guy is right next to the post but there’s nothing else up there for you, all of those stairs were for basically nothing and then when you get the place of power you have to run all the way back to the sign post

I just remember consistently falling off the cliff trying to get I believe it was the cat school gear.

Very late to the party, but in my first playthroughs I sort of enjoyed that feeling of "there MUST be something hidden here," that sense that if Geralt just pokes around enough, checks out a few doors, annoys the right priest, some kind of fateful encounter with Hemmelfart or his forces might trigger. And the cat school gear hunt, the "secret" alchemist and the fateful Radovid assassination nearby all kind of added to the mystique. And, loving the world (and Novigrad) as most of us do, I can't be the only person who looked at every door, walked every staircase, looked for hidden ledges and illusions, came back and tried at night, on and on, hoping that fateful 'something' would happen. I'm glad to know I didn't miss a quest, and I'm okay with Temple Isle being just a temple, of sorts, to the overall menace of the church, the dread of living under its watchful eyes and treacherous minions, and you're right--that view is dynamite. Thanks for all the great content, I'm enjoying your Witcher 3 videos immensely!

I cant say i agree, i like that area for more then one reason. For example it is the power stone you have there that gives you easy extra power. Then there is the cave that also gives you small treasures. Also in the late quest when you help Ciri repay people, you meet a woman there that try to lure you in to a trap. (you don`t actually get much from it, but i can never resist killing those that want to trap me..) And then there is the other quest you mention with Ciri, and the vendor. But yea, at the same time compare to other areas, i kind of have to agree a little also.

Lol I actually utilized the temple Ile alchemist a few times in the beginning. Early levels he does have a few helpful things but as you progress you become less reliant on merchants since you've pretty much upgraded all your stuff, all you need to do is rest to get more.

Seen a fww vids on this topic (and channel). I like it :). I wonder if Dragons's Dogma: Dark Arisen has any locations like this.

I’ve never actually explored it only in the quests mentioned kinda had a mystic feel I think there was a cut quest line with the eternal fire it does feel that story just stopped randomly kinda how the reason of state stops until the end game feels like crunch rush

it's kind of ironic that the the siege of power of the eternal fire is build on top of an elven ruin turn power mad mage laboratory. its like the true face of the church unlike the pristine visage presented on top...

The only quest, I even remember from Temple Isle is where the pretty elf girl tries to get you to investigate a supposed break in of her house and then when you get there, thugs, try to jump you! Other than that, Temple was just this beautiful place on the map that had nothing -

I've been watching your content on Skyrim for a while and it's cool to see you covering other games and topics

There are witcher diagrams under Temple Isle, at least 1 place of power at the temple itself, there's the ciri quests, the Radovid ending, and an interesting merchant with a special Gwent card. Vizima has less utility.

Just like the nilfgaardian soldier camp it seems like there were plans for content but for whatever reasons they didnt get enough time to actually finish everything in time for launch (plus you cant even get in the camp legitimately for the biggest part of it)

There's a Mastercrafted Racing Saddle directly around the outside walls of the temple

Glad I'm not the only one who felt weird in this part of the map. It almost feels liminal with how purposeful it's included yet not interactable

the best theme song in the game in the background of ur video memories of riding along the outskirts of novigrad

Well, thing is that they HAD plans for Temple Isle, but simply didn't have the time to do it. And thought it was better to focus on the other expansions. And perhaps, they might've thought that you can't expect to solve all problems that happen in this game. So, they left Novigrad to their own devices.

you can also find a sword next to the temple

I thought this was going to be about the university island north of oxenfurt, I think it suffered a similar fate

Unfortunately, all large RPG-like games I've played seem to follow the same pattern. Amazing level of detail and lots of content in the beginning, but it all narrows down as you progress towards a single storyline by the end of it. I started calling it The Funnel Effect.

Love your videos keep it up!!!

show of hands, who went aaaaall the way to the cusp of Temple Isle (not in the cave where you were supposed to go) while searching for the feline armor on their first playthrough?

I actually am on the opposite side of this, My favorite part of the Entire game was Novigrad and all of it's main quests/side quests, I would always give my self any excuses to go there I love it so much, Everything about it for me is top notch, Music, Design, Missions, characters so well defined, The only thing I think that may get people upset with it, is that there isn't any combat to be had at the city ( except for burglars, jonior's men ) but other than that its perfect in my opinion

What a strangely specific video I didn’t know I needed, great video my dude keep it up

There is one important thing in temple isle. The witcher gear below the temple, where you'll have to fight a doctor to get the witcher gear. And also place of power behind the temple.

Could your revisit novigrad vs night city

Don't totally know why people would say that The Witcher 3 was too big a really good all some open world game can't me too big to me when I get into a game on a dark winter cold night or when I'm back from work or looking to relax I want to enjoy a huge I liked content that I can get immersed in because once you beat a game you're like okay what can I but now you know there's people out there that knows of what I speak

Yeah there's NO WAY that huge area was not part of some big quest arc involving the church, but as you said TW3 was so expansive already that it probably was left for last and never completed in time. Hey at least we get to visit it and admire the beautiful view and snatch a Stone of Power, instead of a forever closed off area like the Devil's Pit for many many many years until the next gen patch.

In my head, I made up a whole mythology of the eternal flame coming from a gas vent in the mountain or something mystical and spent time looking for it on temple Isle and below it...very disappointed to not find something related.

what the hell i never knew the isle was that big, and i never even found the temple. i must be blind

I would have loved a quest breaking the Church of the Eternal Fire.

I think this location is still really cool if for no other reason than the view. In fact, I don't think I dislike any area in this game. In the end, issues like this come down to time limitations imposed upon the developers from the business side of the equation. Great video, btw!

What is the Outro OST called?

I honestly thought it was a super cool area with amazing design, views and architecture

5:54 is that 'Milk of the poppy' a reference to A song of ice and fire/game of thrones??

The lack of a door on the temple really annoyed me. There should at least be a locked door there.