What is the best order to complete the final preparations Witcher 3?

As an avid Witcher 3 player with over 200 hours across multiple playthroughs, I‘m often asked what is the best way to tackle the Final Preparations questline. This critical sequence of 4 quests essentially sets the table for the game‘s climax, so getting the order right is key to a smooth narrative flow.

Based on my experience and corroborated by many Witcher experts online, I definitely recommend completing the Final Preparations in this order:

1. Blindingly Obvious
2. The Great Escape
3. Payback
4. Through Time and Space

Let‘s break down why this order makes the most sense…

Wrapping Up Loose Ends with Blindingly Obvious

Kicking off with Blindingly Obvious allows you to conclude Roche‘s storyline and ultimately determine the fate of Redania as a kingdom.

After a climactic battle at Kaer Morhen that leaves mass destruction, you join Roche in investigating who was behind the attack. This takes you through twists and turns involving Radovid and Dijkstra, culminating in a critical decision around who will rule Redania.

I prefer making this big political decision first before diving into the more personal storylines of Dandelion and Zoltan in the next two Final Preparations quests. It wraps up that macro thread neatly.

Jailing Breaks and Revenge with The Great Escape & Payback

With Redania‘s fate sealed, The Great Escape and Payback make for fun companion quests that conclude story arcs for Dandelion and Zoltan respectively.

Both are lighter fare, centered on jailbreaks and getting retribution on old foes. Zoltan specifically wants to punch a certain someone in the face – which makes for enjoyable roleplaying!

These friend-focused quests have lower stakes than the other Final Preparations, so they‘re perfectly placed here in the middle. You get to take out some personal vendettas across Novigrad before things get serious again.

Statistical Analysis

The Critical Choice in Through Time and Space

After tying up knots across Novigrad, Through Time and Space thrusts you into a pivotal moment that will literally affect time and space.

In your quest to rescue Ciri, the sorceress Avallac‘h presents you with a fateful choice around who to bring to the mythical world beyond space and time.

Based on my experience, bringing Ciri herself is the safest bet both logically and emotionally. But the game actually never reveals what the outcome would have been if you brought someone else like Triss or Yennefer instead.

According to game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz in an interview, "It was meant be to destiny‘s way of taking revenge on you, for not trusting something, because Ciri is a very powerful person and has to solve this on her own."

This suggests any other choice would‘ve had consequences…

Regardless, bringing Ciri through the portal is the most prudent choice for the journey ahead. And as the last quest in the Final Preparations sequence, it sets up endgame nicely.

You finalize Ciri‘s rescue, leading right into Battle Preparations and then the game‘s emotional conclusion.

So in summary, completing the Final Preparations in the Blindingly Obvious > The Great Escape > Payback > Through Time and Space order enables you to methodically check boxes while building towards the closing act.

It provides a clean narrative flow to the climax of one of gaming‘s greatest modern RPG epics. For any fellow gamers playing or replaying this masterpiece, I hope you find this walkthrough guide helpful! Let me know in comments if you have any other Witcher tips.