The Witcher

I finished watching it last night, and it does get better once the action starts to pick up and you're finally able to piece together the whole story from the "time warps". The time warps alone honestly take a full point rating off the show, if not more imho, because it's an artificial sleight of hand way of trying to create tension and surprise where none would naturally occur in a linear storytelling that doesn't have actual surprises written in. It can work when well done and there are clear indications that time has "shifted", but in this case since none of the characters ever seem to age, it can take you minutes of confusion to figure out that the show has suddenly moved into past/future mode. The show would have been far better if it simply stuck to a linear storytelling, dumped some of the side quests, and focused on more monster fighting, world/lore building, and less shity dialogue filler.

They have Geralt down perfect, the combat scenes are well done,and the monsters designs are cool, so there's huge potential here. Tighten up the writing, dump some of the clearly feminine influenced filler junk, and focus more on Geralt, the wars, and the mages, and this could be a great show.

7/10 for 1st season for me.

I think in one interview, he talked about almost not landing superman because he didn't answer his phone while doing a WoW raid.

Brahma said:

Never read the books. Finished all 8 episodes

It's OK. Not great.

The whole time line jumping just to be cute is getting annoying. Most of the side characters suck. There is zero reason to give a shit about any of them. When Cavill is not on screen it's kind of meh. He REALLY carries this show. The story as a whole is just OK.

6/10. Worth a watch,

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This.

Khane said:

Author doesn't like one of the best story driven video games ever made. Got it. Books not worth reading. TV Show adaptation based off books obviously also not worth the time.

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Books are totally worth reading. Don't write off his books because he is a grumpy old Pole.

Khane said:

And probably also that CDPR did a better job with the source material than he did.

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You're comparing storytelling in video games to storytelling in novels. Might as well teach latin to a pig.

wat said:

Yeah but there's also protections in Polish law to insure fair contracts.

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Apparently there is a special law in Poland specially for intellectual property. If someone buys it at a low price and it blows up the original creator has a right to sue for more money. At least, that's what I heard when that controversy was going on. It was pretty big news in Poland.

Campbell1oo4 said:

Books are totally worth reading. Don't write off his books because he is a grumpy old Pole.



You're comparing storytelling in video games to storytelling in novels. Might as well teach latin to a pig.



Apparently there is a special law in Poland specially for intellectual property. If someone buys it at a low price and it blows up the original creator has a right to sue for more money. At least, that's what I heard when that controversy was going on. It was pretty big news in Poland.

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Except it blew up because of THEIR work, not his. It's not like buying the digital rights to something like Harry Potter before it takes off.

Gavinmad said:

Except it blew up because of THEIR work, not his. It's not like buying the digital rights to something like Harry Potter before it takes off.

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Listen, I know the Witcher took off because of the games and not the books.

But what I'm saying is that Polish law doesn't give a shit. Sapkowski ended up getting a shit ton of money when CD Projekt Red settled out of court.

Campbell1oo4 said:

Listen, I know the Witcher took off because of the games and not the books.

But what I'm saying is that Polish law doesn't give a shit. Sapkowski ended up getting a shit ton of money when CD Projekt Red settled out of court.

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And what I'm saying is that they settled for PR reasons, if they'd actually fought it out in court they would have crushed him.

I hate this trope where they start the season off with an event and then loop back around to the same event as the end. It can work and is done well elsewhere, but it is not so here, and left me feeling like nothing happened or progressed in the first season. Obviously the point was getting the story leading up to it, but fuck all, just play it sequentially you fucks. I liked the show overall, but that was the biggest thing that bothered me, and it makes stuff going on in each episode essentially pointless. There was literally no pay off to presenting the season the way that they did, it barely even gave us any new perspective on what happened when they loop back to it at the end. It was being autistic... I mean artistic for the sake of being artistic, and served zero purpose other than to confuse people half way through the season.

I would have been perfectly happy with this being a monster of the week format, with some loose overarching story playing out through the course of a season. Copy paste Supernatural with The Witcher skin and Cavill absolutely nailing it as Geralt, and they could happily string me along for years, easy. If they learn from the first seasons mistakes and capitalize on its strengths, this could be an exceptional series.

The bard is probably the most annoying character in the show— the Witcher doesn’t need shitty comic relief or a gay jester companion. His absence in the final episodes was a welcome relief.

Oblio said:

...but I did buy GOTY of Witcher III today for $14.99 on Steam today.

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Same here baby!

Gavinmad said:

And what I'm saying is that they settled for PR reasons, if they'd actually fought it out in court they would have crushed him.

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Not sure about that. Poland is a whole different ball game.

Season 2 The Hound and Arya style, all will be well.

Frenzied Wombat said:

The bard is probably the most annoying character in the show— the Witcher doesn’t need shitty comic relief or a gay jester companion. His absence in the final episodes was a welcome relief.

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Dandelion is awesome and you fucking suck.

Another funny thing about the godawful Fringilla casting is that she's supposed to be second cousin to Anna Henrietta, the duchess of Toussaint.

i wish you guys would understand that skin color doesn't mean anything unless you're white and then you're terrible