The dragon ep left a sour taste in my mouth I think.
The dragon story actually was the closest to book story they got. They messed up a bit toward end where they didn't show at all how dragon fought with people in some sort of weird tourney but the main gist of meaning behind that story was conserved. They really did fantastic job on Yarpen and his group. There are things i didn't like like how Yennefer knight who was supposed to be actually proper knight who doesn't fuck around (but racist as fuck) was someone who was viewed as actual problem for other party members as they fought he could actually kill dragon. Show killed him literally while taking dump.
There are things in show that were great. Like case of Cavil being Geralt, or Yennefer actress doing best from script she was given (and that has severe issues). Jaskier which name was supposed to be translated because it loses all meaning if show public doesn't unnderstand his stage alias did fantastic job. Fight scenes were also great though they were wrong from point of perspective of books but that is small nitpick.
But all of those things are overshadowed by what that youtuber said. The main motive of here is "why?"
There are several reason why show might be changed. Usually the main reason is budget or just plain incompetence.
But Netflix Witcher has so many very very very weird changes that can't be explained other than writer of show being idiot or just plain want to sabotage show.
Goos example of that is Ciri in Brokilion:
- Why dryads were using crossbows and spears and why there were males among them ?
- Why there was blinding light ?
- What was the point of Ciri visiting it if not being there against her will when dryads wanted to brainwash her ?
Literally none of those things had anything to do with budget. They could just as easily do 1:1 which probably would end up cheaper than what they had with whole FX dream stuff and it would have meaning. Geralt saves Ciri live not knowing who she is and bonds with her to at the end again effectively run away from that kid which bugs him later.
When Cintra fall down Geralt gets the news that Cintra was butchered and barely anyone got out alive (he wasn't there unlike show), calanthe was murdered as well as her family including Ciri. This really hits him and he feels really guilty that he didn't take that kid.
And then show ends with scene where Geralt arrives on farm of guy he helped that will be staying for a while to heal and finds out Ciri is ok in one of the greatest endings to book series you could read and show you could watch if this was proper adaptation.
In show literally Geralt never bonds with girl, he doesn't know anything about her and there is literally no reason why he would feel guilty at all.
I read all the books multiple times and it's really not all that bad. I completely understand why they skipped some short stories, changed a few events and inserted some show-only details for cohesiveness' sake, so the overarching plot flows as we move from the short story collections into the Witcher saga next season.
But overall I loved the show and I expect it will adhere more closely to the source material now we're heading into the saga vs short stories that are only loosely connected.
Honestly speaking i hope you won't reread books because your memory is clearly rusty here and you might fuck up show for yourself if you do. For and example to anyone who read books Tor Lara stuff in Aretuza was RED ALERT. Aretuza itself was an issue because in books it was female only school for mages while Ban Ard was male version of it but that is small stuff.
Tor Lara/Tor Zirael is literally one of main themes of books (with one book directly named after it) and they made it into some kind of pond rather than chaotic portal offlimits to anyone which has serious consequences to story later.
The other big issue is that whole book series is literally chase after Ciri and in first episodes Nifgard sorcerers show up that they can force someone to eat meat of kin and read from guts of that victim where someone is. They literally point out she is near brokilion. That is huge fuckup lorewise because if nilfgard has that ability then rest of mages should which means that ciri location is not unknown anymore and literally whole plot of books don't make any sense.
Literally due to changes they made in this show it can only go down. So either they retcon stuff or they go and fall down on face as show will completely diverge from books.
I know nothing of the Witcher books or games, but liked the show.
Which means you should try witcher books. They are 1000 times better than show.