Kyleripman
Member
Just popping in briefly (haven't played the games) to say that I just finished the main series (Season of Storms notwithstanding) and really liked the books a lot. The fan translations of the last couple books were a lifesaver.
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The Witcher Community Thread: Where we discuss what politics and sex have in common
- Thread starter Dragon1893
- Start date
Jay Shadow
Member
Absolutely. I read the series when Baptism of Fire and The Time of Contempt still hadn't been officially translated, so fan translations were even bigger for me. I was reading Lady of the Lake chapter by chapter while they were translating it.
Kyleripman
Member
That must have been agonizing, haha.
I'm debating starting Season of Storms now or waiting until it's finished. On one hand, it wouldn't be bad to read it partially since it's more short stories, but on the other hand it might be more rewarding to return to these characters after some time has passed.
Dragon1893
Member
It's not short stories.
It's a single story.
Currently playing Hearts of Stone and there's a reference to Season of Storms in there.
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
CDPR giving sales to Sapkowski, they want me to buy the book lol
Reading the books and playing Wild Hunt is a double edge sword 
. The references and callbacks were awesome but then towards the end some key things got completely changed and others not mentioned at all. It kind of makes me feel that CDPR should do another expansion to better flesh out the end game -not sure how that would work or if it even feasible.
All in all its a great game and I liked the endings but I wanted to see more concepts mentioned in the books appear in the game.
. The references and callbacks were awesome but then towards the end some key things got completely changed and others not mentioned at all. It kind of makes me feel that CDPR should do another expansion to better flesh out the end game -not sure how that would work or if it even feasible. All in all its a great game and I liked the endings but I wanted to see more concepts mentioned in the books appear in the game.
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
Reading the books and playing Wild Hunt is a double edge sword
All in all its a great game and I liked the endings but I wanted to see more concepts mentioned in the books appear in the game.
Well, there are sequels, not reimagenings, so its understandable why all what appears in the books doesnt appear in the games.
As I said before, the only big problem I have is the big change of character at the end of the game that Dijkstra has
I dont think he would have ever done that in the books
Dragon1893
Member
Finished Hearts of Stone.
It's great, main quest is one of the very best in the game.
CDPR came up with some really good characters for this.
It's great, main quest is one of the very best in the game.
CDPR came up with some really good characters for this.
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
Exciting, cant wait to see what they have in stock for the second bigger expansion.
Dragon1893
Member
Indeed. Visiting Toussaint will be awesome.
Hearts of Stone main quest was indeed top quality.Was wishing for a bit more monster hunting contracts to be honest though
Still excellent expansion and well worth the 20 for the retail version with the gwent cards
Looking forward to Blood and Wine and if it's as great as we hope,wish they announce one last expansion to end with a bang on Geralt's story and then release the ultimate GOTY of any game
Still excellent expansion and well worth the 20 for the retail version with the gwent cards
Looking forward to Blood and Wine and if it's as great as we hope,wish they announce one last expansion to end with a bang on Geralt's story and then release the ultimate GOTY of any game
Dragon1893
Member
I doubt we'll get anything else. All hands on deck for Cyberpunk after they finish BaW.
Well, at least we'll have the movie to look forward to
Denton
Member
Yeah I think Blood and Wine is it.
But I would totally love a third expansion that would do three things:
1) fix those little narrative blemishes (Dijkstra, Saskia)
2) Bolster the main quest, restore the cut content (infiltrating the Wild Hunt questline)
3) Add some nice post-ending questline, dependant on the ending
But I would totally love a third expansion that would do three things:
1) fix those little narrative blemishes (Dijkstra, Saskia)
2) Bolster the main quest, restore the cut content (infiltrating the Wild Hunt questline)
3) Add some nice post-ending questline, dependant on the ending
I just beat The Witcher 3. Man...top 3 game of all time for me. Just incredible.
My ending:
Now I want to read the books. What order do I get them in? I looked on Amazon but it didn't really say...
My ending:
Ciri became a witcher, stopped the white front, and geralt went to live in Korvi with Triss.
Now I want to read the books. What order do I get them in? I looked on Amazon but it didn't really say...
Dragon1893
Member
Check the first post in this thread for everything you need to know. If you still have doubts after reading it, feel free to ask.
And yeah, it's also top 3 of all time tier for me and I've been playing videogames since the 80's.
Dragon1893
Member
The games act as sequels to the books. Though they're not recognized as canon by Sapkowsky, the popularity of the games led some publishers to use their art for the book covers.
I recommend getting the books with the original art since it's fantastic, as you can see in the OP.
I'm absolutely enamored with this series after playing Witcher 3 (GOTG). I'm gonna start reading the books this December, and I'm considering picking an Xbox so I can play Witcher 2. Is that backwards compatible with the Xbox One? I also installed Witcher 1 on my laptop but it runs like shit, so I guess I'll be missing on that for the time being.
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
At least if they choose Triss instead of Yeneffer lol
Or maybe even after reading the books they still prefer their choice, who knows.
Or maybe even after reading the books they still prefer their choice, who knows.
AwakenedCloud
Member
I'm playing through the Witcher 2 and need some help. I'm halfway through chapter 2 and have barely upgraded my equipment at all. According to the guides that I've looked at swords should have 2 values associated with them, but I only see 1. Swords in my game also show up with a much smaller damage stat then what's in the guides. My sword of the Dun Banner only says it does 18 damage while all the guides say it should do 26 minimum. Could someone please explain what's going on?
I'm still using my Witcher 1 import swords and the Blue Stripes Combat Jacket. The meteorite crafting and mutagens are over my head too.
Also Axii never works. I hold the button for the full duration but nothing ever comes of it.
Edit: So apparently I downloaded the FCR2 mod at some point and uninstalled it from my machine, but had some leftover settings files that were boning over my game. It looks like I've been playing a weird mix of the vanilla version and the mod. I knew something was off when my a abilities didn't work as advertised and my stats didn't look anything similar to the ones in guides, but it became obvious that something was terribly wrong when none of the skills on the skill tree had mutagens and my vigor bar wouldn't grow over two slots despite me having upgraded it.
This game was an absolute nightmare for me. The draug was taking 80% of my health off on an initial hit that I had no way of blocking or dodging, and the fights with the skeleton before that took a good 25 minutes of hitting them with heavy attacks to get past - and this was on normal! I've had to uninstall and reinstall the Witcher 2 to get things back to vanilla, but I'm worried that my stats are going to be completely borked. I'm at the end of chapter 2 and I'm level 17, does that sound about right for someone who's done almost every sidequest until then? It says I only have 2 skill points available now, but before I fixed things I could've sworn that I had 5 stocked up.
I'm still using my Witcher 1 import swords and the Blue Stripes Combat Jacket. The meteorite crafting and mutagens are over my head too.
Also Axii never works. I hold the button for the full duration but nothing ever comes of it.
Edit: So apparently I downloaded the FCR2 mod at some point and uninstalled it from my machine, but had some leftover settings files that were boning over my game. It looks like I've been playing a weird mix of the vanilla version and the mod. I knew something was off when my a abilities didn't work as advertised and my stats didn't look anything similar to the ones in guides, but it became obvious that something was terribly wrong when none of the skills on the skill tree had mutagens and my vigor bar wouldn't grow over two slots despite me having upgraded it.
This game was an absolute nightmare for me. The draug was taking 80% of my health off on an initial hit that I had no way of blocking or dodging, and the fights with the skeleton before that took a good 25 minutes of hitting them with heavy attacks to get past - and this was on normal! I've had to uninstall and reinstall the Witcher 2 to get things back to vanilla, but I'm worried that my stats are going to be completely borked. I'm at the end of chapter 2 and I'm level 17, does that sound about right for someone who's done almost every sidequest until then? It says I only have 2 skill points available now, but before I fixed things I could've sworn that I had 5 stocked up.
Dragon1893
Member
Damn, what a mess. Sorry to hear that your first experience with the game is going like that. Hard to say how things will go for you but it sounds like your game is really messed up.
Are you really at the end of chapter 2? Because chapter 3 is the last and also the shortest so you might as well finish it.
Otherwise I'd recommend starting over. If your stats are too messed up the last mandatory fight might become frustrating.
I'm currently reading through a sample version of "The Last Wish"; the first book, and I'm really liking what I have read so far. Of course I'm not that far in yet, but I'll let the three next chapters decide if I should buy the whole book.
Have any of you in here read the whole series, and what did you think? Does it become better, or even worse?
And thanks to Dragon1893 for guiding me in here.
Have any of you in here read the whole series, and what did you think? Does it become better, or even worse?
And thanks to Dragon1893 for guiding me in here.
Dragon1893
Member
You can divide the books into 3 "categories".
The first 2 are a series of short stories and they're pretty awesome.
The 5 books that came afterwards form a saga. The first book of the saga "Blood of Elves" is a bit slow but they get progressively better imo and the saga as a whole is really fantastic. The ending of the last book feels a bit abrupt and is not very satisfying but the games actually kinda fix that by continuing the story and giving us a better conclusion with TW3's ending.
Then there's the recently released Season of Storms which is a prequel and a self contained story. You should read it last though because despite being a prequel it also touches the ending of the saga which is pretty cool and gives it better closure. The book itself is really good.
I hope that helped.
Dragon1893
Member
Of course you don't need to play the games. The short stories are really good and I forgot to mention that the story in the saga actually starts in one of them so Blood of Elves isn't actually the beginning.
You don't need to play the game to understand the books. But the games get better if you've read the books.
The short stories in the first book aren't completely disconnected. There is a storyline, and the short stories are told as retrospection to explain what's happening.
The books are awesome, and I think if you like what you're reading so far it will stay good for you the whole way through. Overall it's one of my favorite book series of all time. I really connected with everything about it from the writing style to the characters and the overarching story that happens in the later books.
The games are kind of like... fan fiction after the entire book series. So no you absolutely don't need to play the games at all to enjoy the books. They're amazing on their own. They make the games better, but I don't think the reverse is true really.
The first two books are indeed short stories, and they're great. I don't think they feel like "lesser" stories or anything. After that it does go into a grand epic sort of story, so things switch quite a bit when you move into Blood of Elves.
Dragon1893
Member
A lot of people actually prefer the short stories because they're all about Geralt's monster hunting, without all the political intrigue and stuff. The saga also gradually shifts the focus more and more towards Ciri, to the point where in the last 2 books it's more about her than him and though I was fine with that because I think she's great, some people prefer to read about Geralt.
To make an analogy with the games, think of the short stories as side quests and the saga as the main plot
Anyway, I can't wait to explore Toussaint in the next expansion, CDPR always does such a great job with bringing the locations to life.
BTW Madridista, SpacePirateRidley who helped me with this thread is also spanish and a huge witcher fan.
I own some spanish versions of the books, the hardcover versions are beautiful, I can't believe how expensive books are in your country though.
Dragon1893
Member
Dragon1893
Member
Good move
I only realized recently that Hearts of Stone includes a comic!
It shows what happened to Saskia and Vergen in general after TW2. And here was wondering why the hell Saskia never appears in TW3, I'm glad they gave the character closure, even if it wasn't in the game.
Anyone here check it out?
BTW, the Reason of State comic that comes with TW3 is pretty good.
I have only now started reading The Last Wish, and is still at Chapter 1, but it seems very interesting so far. I'm only up till, where Veridad of Wyzim will follow Geralt to the palace where the striga is located underneath.
The Witcher 1-3 games is a continuation right? And not just a retelling of the books?
The Witcher 1-3 games is a continuation right? And not just a retelling of the books?
Jay Shadow
Member
Yeah, the games take place 5 years after the books end. There's occasionally some overlap in some early game plots that'll be a loose retelling of some of the book stories but no direct adaptations outside of the CGI Strigga fight in the intro to Witcher 1.
Triss seemed like a literal whore in the first game, then some kind of sex-addicted-nympho in the second, and the third finally seemed to match book-Triss proper, a young lovestruck lass that seems to get carried away by her emotions from time to time. She's great in W3.
Dragon1893
Member
You don't mince words lol.
Anyway, Blood&Wine is incredible, CDPR did an amazing job recreating Toussaint.
And
Regis!
Lightning Count
Member
I was looking to finish Witcher 3 on XB1 but that won't be happening for a while now.
Recently I changed all my passwords including my Microsoft accound password, all good until last night, I had to log into XBL and I could not remember the password, I checked lastpass and bizarrely the password did not match up to.
So I go through the password reset process using two step verification, I enter my new password Microsoft's systems spit it out and I try to reset again, but because I have my backup email address once already it won't let me do that.
it gives me three other options which go nowhere.
An app - which would be fine except I need to log in to activate it first, so back to step 1.
Phone number - don't have my number added to my account and it won't let me add it now so back to step one.
25 character backup code - don't have one so can't do that either.
So now MS has imposed a 30 day waiting period before I can reset my security info, my XB1 is effectively bricked, not sure about my 360, it probably is ok because it uses a unique app password.
In addition to this I now no longer have access to one of my primary two email accounts. MS customer services flat out won't deal with this.
What the fuck can I do GAF to sort this out or am I on hold for the next 30 days?
Recently I changed all my passwords including my Microsoft accound password, all good until last night, I had to log into XBL and I could not remember the password, I checked lastpass and bizarrely the password did not match up to.
So I go through the password reset process using two step verification, I enter my new password Microsoft's systems spit it out and I try to reset again, but because I have my backup email address once already it won't let me do that.
it gives me three other options which go nowhere.
An app - which would be fine except I need to log in to activate it first, so back to step 1.
Phone number - don't have my number added to my account and it won't let me add it now so back to step one.
25 character backup code - don't have one so can't do that either.
So now MS has imposed a 30 day waiting period before I can reset my security info, my XB1 is effectively bricked, not sure about my 360, it probably is ok because it uses a unique app password.
In addition to this I now no longer have access to one of my primary two email accounts. MS customer services flat out won't deal with this.
What the fuck can I do GAF to sort this out or am I on hold for the next 30 days?
Dragon1893
Member
Never owned a XBox, no idea mate. Hope you can sort it out.
Just got to the (early novigrad spoilers w3)
and I love how it references the books. I never got into expanded universes the way I do with witcher and cdpr really treats the source material well. Currently reading the first novel.
dream sequence with Dandelion and how geralt explains his memories of Ciri.... Something more.
Jay Shadow
Member
Was watching a Gwent panel from Pax and they showed the artwork for several book characters, including from Season of Storms. Also characters have a few voice lines including card specific taunts. Even though it's only a few lines, they took the casting very seriously so they don't have to recast if they want to use those characters again for something else. Showed an example of a Leo Bonhart card and voice line.
One really cool card art was (Lady of the Lake spoiler)
One really cool card art was (Lady of the Lake spoiler)
Vilgefortz incinerating Regis.
Dragon1893
Member
Wow, that's pretty cool.