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 nels1031 wrote:
Just about 2 days until this drops, for those that might have forgotten.

Kind of looking forward to it. I own all the games but never played them (Steam sale got me!) so maybe this will motivate me to re-install.

You are doing yourself a disservice by not playing The Witcher 3. It is probably my top game of the Decade, or at minimum in the top 3.

Ya, been told that before. Its just that I hate joining a franchise late. Would have to play the first two before I get into 3.

Not the first one. I didn't. I just read a very detailed synopsis. Honestly the hardest part was remembering everyone's names.

I would play the 2nd one though. It's an amazing game, and you'll get an attachment to some of the side characters that will make the 3rd one all the better.

I always thought it was like Mass Effect 1-3 where your story choices carry over, hence why I’d prefer to start at 1, but never really felt like it.

Is that not true?

I have a feeling this show will be the catalyst to make me install and play them, regardless.

 nels1031 wrote:
I always thought it was like Mass Effect 1-3 where your story choices carry over, hence why I’d prefer to start at 1, but never really felt like it.

Is that not true?

I have a feeling this show will be the catalyst to make me install and play them, regardless.

There are some really brief moments where things that occurred in 1/2 could affect conversation in 3, but it's nothing important. Really just conversation pieces.

I've only played 3 myself. Loved it, to the extreme. Only game of the decade that comes close to me is RDR2, but it's a strong second.

I only played 3 and loved it. I tried to go back and play 2 after and it was unplayably bad by comparison mechanically. Just play 3. You don't need anything else.

I've never played any of these games, but I have seen the monsters and such. Very awesome representation of the monsters, much like The Secret World.

I have always wanted to see something like that on the big screen or small screen. I will stick my head in and check this one out.

 nels1031 wrote:
I always thought it was like Mass Effect 1-3 where your story choices carry over, hence why I’d prefer to start at 1, but never really felt like it.

Is that not true?

I have a feeling this show will be the catalyst to make me install and play them, regardless.

Nah there's not a huge carry over between the games. The choices that carry over are all pretty minor to the point you likely wouldn't notice if you played 1-3 vs just playing 3.

Sometimes you might feel like you should know a character when you don't, but that's just as likely to be thanks to Geralt's amnesia rather than because you didn't play 1 or 2, or a character from the books that wasn't introduced in the first 2 games.

The problem with playing 1 through 3 is the games got a lot better as they went, aside from some minor things, 2 isn't as good as 3 and unless you like the style of play, 1 can be difficult to get through. I don't think 1 has aged well, the combat system was passable for back in the day but doesn't stand up well next to modern games.

Granted, I do like the whole series from a story perspective, the think CDPR got right through the whole series was the story.

 nels1031 wrote:
I always thought it was like Mass Effect 1-3 where your story choices carry over, hence why I’d prefer to start at 1, but never really felt like it.

Is that not true?

Yes and no. I know that on my play through of Witcher 2 I killed the main bad guy, which is something you don't have to do. He has a small plotline in the third game and helps you out at one of the pivotal moments... but in my game he was not there, as I had killed him.

Thing is, at the start of the third game, you go through an interview with someone who asks you questions about what you did previously. You can use these answers to shape the background, either going with what you did or just going completely against it. It's a very clever system they invented.

Am on the second episode.

Bard is irritating.

on the third episode, so far so good but IMHO Triss was miscast. they could get away with changes to other characters etc but given the video games etc, I'd argue Triss in partiuclar was important to get right, he hair's too dark. it's brown and not a warm auburn

Think I’m on episode 4, lost track because I was engrossed. I can’t speak to its accuracy to the books or games, but I dig it.

As someone whose read the books it's based on it's accuracy is pretty solid but is at the same time far from perfect. as alterations are made to allow for the story to be told, the biggest problem is the timelines not being in synch. and tha'sd something that could have been fixed simply by having a date pop up each time prespective shifts

I think the various actors are really nailing the parts thus far. Cavils look and voice is great. I really appreciate the facial expresions he goes through when the little girl tells him to leave. Hurt, anger, then emotionless control as he stands to leave. Real good job all around thus far.

Just finished the 1st ep and I found it quite enjoyable.


I know the games well enough, but only have the vaguest of ideas about how the books play out (which is to say I know they tell a different story then the games), so I went into this expecting to see stuff that I wasn't all familiar with.

Initial impressions of the first episode. (NO SPOILERS HERE)
-Cavill makes for an excellent Geralt. He looks the part and he nailed Geralts voice and inflections. (at least from a game stand point)
-The fight scenes weren't bad. It's fairly quick action that doesn't linger on any combatants for any more then a second or two. Which you may or not think is a good thing. I also think they contained just the right amount of violence and gore. Enough to sate the inner-Khorne, but not so gruesome as to turn the less inclined away. Not GoT levels of gore and violence, but more then say the LotR movies.
-Monster/s look pretty alright. The kikimore at the start wasn't overly CGI looking. But again, that could be because the scenes have a lot of movement, so you don't get to focus on anything for too long to notice. (poor deer )
-Really nice to see Geralt using the witcher fighting styles in that back alley fight. They looked like some of the moves out of the first game which I thought was a nice touch.
-The armour he wears as well is very reminiscent of the style from one of the games, but I forget which. So clearly they have someone who is doing their research, taking notes and cues from the games, which I guess is what most people will be more familiar with and is probably the crowed they're largely trying to draw.

Keen to hope into the rest of them now! Good thing i've got 4 days off work, as this is gonna take up some time.

the armor is reminiscant of the Viper armor set, which is also the set you start out in.



replace the chainmail with rivats and you have the gear from the series,
there's already a mod out there that does just that more or less apparently.






but yeah really oogd over all, the only casting choice I'm not a fan of is Triss Marigold, she's just too... dark complexioned for triss IMHO

Im really liking the show thus far, solid all around. I don't hate the Triss, but I can see why people would think shes not a good choice for the role.

Jaskier and episode 2 are great.

Cavill is great in this show.

 VictorVonTzeentch wrote:
Im really liking the show thus far, solid all around. I don't hate the Triss, but I can see why people would think shes not a good choice for the role.

Jaskier and episode 2 are great.

Cavill is great in this show.

yeah keep in mind I don't HATE the triss casting it's just a moment where I can't help but feel it's off. really in a way Triss was one of the most difficult casting decisions for the witcher, given she's so prominant in the games

Temporarily given up.

Got half way through episode 2, and it’s just not grabbing me.

Action scenes are usually decent, nice and visceral. But that Goat Man thing just looked awful.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Temporarily given up.

Got half way through episode 2, and it’s just not grabbing me.

Action scenes are usually decent, nice and visceral. But that Goat Man thing just looked awful.

yeah Torque didn't look very good I agree, the monsters are MOSTLY better looking. I just finished the last episode and I enjoyed it muchly. the Battle of Sodden was pretty awesome. I'm EAGERLY looking forward to season 2

So with all the stooshie a while back about the show's creators supposedly giving the baddies ballsack-textured armour because Men Bad and so looking like manbits reinforces that Baddies Bad, does the end result actually end up like the first year sociology student fanfic that sort of nonsense would lead you to expect, or did they keep a lid on it and come out with something decent?

Its.....armour?

lol I have seen nothing that stands out as the texture of a ball sack.

The Nilfgaard armor does look pretty dumb, but they toned down some of the rumored idiocy.

All-in-all, it's actually a pretty decent adaptation, with fans of the books or games probably enjoying it more than others. It's basically all setting up for Season 2, so that may turn some people off.

The Nilfgardian armor is a bit... weird... but I'm not buying it's because the show designers hate men.

Is there a lot of anti-man talk? Sure. There is also a lot of anti-human. Anti-elf. Anti-dwarf. Anti-everything. They're painting that the world is just a hateful place.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
One thing that I do like is their particular care to not have "light saber" moments, and Shadiversity calls them. They show a lot of kill blows actually working around the armor, and not just "I struck your full plate with a sword, and now you're dead."

Does anyone else find Yennifer's plot a complete drag on the story? I'm only 3 eps in so far, but I feel like whenever I'm getting into whatever Geralt is doing (great stuff) or Ciri is doing (its okay, assume it pays out later) in comes whiny little Yennifer in creepy hogwarts to completely spoil the good time and scream "why isn't this its own show it doesn't fit here."

Just me?

The nature of magic and magic users is fairly i.portant to the over all plot and fleshing out Yens background will make her otherwise terrible person character more sympathetic.

Its a necessary evil.

I find her completely unsympathetic though... All those magic types are a bunch of conniving dicks and I still find her the most unlikable of the lot XD

Well yeah. They are all that. I didnt say it made her sympathetic. Just MORE sympathetic. Seeing her in her deformed state and having to struggle through it at least informs WHY shes the gak person she is instead of just being another in a line of gak people.

 djones520 wrote:
The Nilfgardian armor is a bit... weird... but I'm not buying it's because the show designers hate men.

Is there a lot of anti-man talk? Sure. There is also a lot of anti-human. Anti-elf. Anti-dwarf. Anti-everything. They're painting that the world is just a hateful place.

It was an actual thing that some of the people making the show reportedly said during production, I'm paraphrasing obviously since I can't be bothered to go and find the article, but it boiled down to "we made them look like ballsacks because they're Bad Men who are Men, which are Bad", and I was just wondering if any of that ludicrous kind of sentiment actually made it through to the final content of the show. I can no longer be arsed getting halfway into a new show before the cringey stuff reveals itself and sours things, so if I see any cringe-adjacent stuff prior to release I wait to watch until I've confirmed a lack of cringeitude.

It seems either they were talking gak or someone with more sense stepped in and filtered out the cringe, so I'll give it a look.