Octopus Overlords

Hrdina wrote: ↑Sun Dec 15, 2019 6:42 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Sun Dec 15, 2019 6:26 pm What's hilarious is that like half the people reading along have no idea what you're talking about because they choose poorly and went with Triss.

I chose well and went with Triss, but that choice happened after the unicorn.

Yeah, you can take the bone train to unicorn-land with Yennefer and still make the objectively correct choice to settle down with Triss afterwards without screwing up the romance.

Just watched the first episode and Henry Cavill does make for a very good Witcher. Since I’ve wrapped up Watchmen and The Expanse this series will fill the gap quite nicely. I know this is based on the books but I’m tempted to do another run through The Wild Hunt and Blood and Wine. Looking forward to seeing episode two and meeting a certain bard...

Stupid decision by the royal family to fight that battle in the open rather then by siege. I'd have fortified what I had and waited for relief. They had that whole city to work with.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Sun Dec 15, 2019 11:43 pm

Hrdina wrote: ↑Sun Dec 15, 2019 6:42 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Sun Dec 15, 2019 6:26 pm What's hilarious is that like half the people reading along have no idea what you're talking about because they choose poorly and went with Triss.

I chose well and went with Triss, but that choice happened after the unicorn.

Yeah, you can take the bone train to unicorn-land with Yennefer and still make the objectively correct choice to settle down with Triss afterwards without screwing up the romance.

Yennifer for life! I can't wait to watch this tonight. I've never seen a show that has such wildly ranging reviews from critics. The USER reviews seem to be through the roof so whatever. Everyone keeps on trying to compare it to Game of Thrones. They have nothing in common and it's so damn annoying.

Any chance there will be spoilers for The Witcher 3?

Alefroth wrote: ↑Fri Dec 20, 2019 4:21 pm Any chance there will be spoilers for The Witcher 3?

FWIW my understanding is that the show is based on the books, not the games, so in general there shouldn't be. I wouldn't shocked if they drew *some* inspiration from the games as well, but you wouldn't know which parts those would be, so I don't think that you would wind up getting spoiled even if that's true.

I believe (well, I've read) that this is also supposed to be based on The Last Wish, which takes place well before the games.

Thanks, that's what i was hoping.

3 episodes in and loving it so far. Fans of the game will be impressed imo.

This is a fantastic show. And people it's not Got, it is not trying to be.

Watched the first episode last night and was really, really impressed. The costuming and armor in particular - fantastic. In the same way that the video game doesn't look like "generic medieval fantasy", the look for this show is really inspired. I think Henry Cavill was excellent and the big scene in the marketplace looked like how I feel when playing the video game - the fight choreography is quite good.

I also thought it was a great story to start with. From playing the games, people toss the moniker "Butcher of Blaviken" at him and it's never something they actually explain (that I can recall).

man this show is great. Fills that missing hole that Game of Thrones left.

Couldn't sleep this morning, woke up at 5am to finish episode 3. Boobs at 5am isn't a bad thing

soulbringer wrote: ↑Fri Dec 20, 2019 11:50 pm 3 episodes in and loving it so far. Fans of the game will be impressed imo.

Agreed. And Henry Cavill *is* Geralt.

I called it that he would do great. Still not watched it. No Netflix. Dont want it.

I read one review that said it was terrible. Glad to see the consensus here is that that reviewer is terrible.

Zaxxon wrote:I read one review that said it was terrible. Glad to see the consensus here is that that reviewer is terrible.

Was it the Entertainment Weekly review? That was pretty awful.

And it's pretty fun to watch. Cavill has a good rapport with Roach and I like his gravelly understated humor

I have not read the books and have only a passing familiarity with the video game. I have watched the first two episodes and while I don't find it terrible, it hasn't knocked my socks off although I will continue to watch more episodes.

Cavill isn't bad but I hope he relaxes a bit more as the episodes go on, the actress playing Tissaia is very good and I like Ciri but the rest aren't grabbing me. I am also finding the story to be rather disjointed and I am pretty confused regarding the deeper stuff at the moment but it's only second episode so hopefully they explain stuff as they go a little better.

$iljanus wrote: ↑Sat Dec 21, 2019 7:07 pm

Zaxxon wrote:I read one review that said it was terrible. Glad to see the consensus here is that that reviewer is terrible.

Was it the Entertainment Weekly review? That was pretty awful.

And it's pretty fun to watch. Cavill has a good rapport with Roach and I like his gravelly understated humor

Polygon was the review i saw that tore it apart

Can't remember. It was a two-person review basically mocking the show while expaining that they didn't really watch much of it.

Tao wrote: ↑Sat Dec 21, 2019 8:04 pm I have not read the books and have only a passing familiarity with the video game. I have watched the first two episodes and while I don't find it terrible, it hasn't knocked my socks off although I will continue to watch more episodes.

Cavill isn't bad but I hope he relaxes a bit more as the episodes go on, the actress playing Tissaia is very good and I like Ciri but the rest aren't grabbing me. I am also finding the story to be rather disjointed and I am pretty confused regarding the deeper stuff at the moment but it's only second episode so hopefully they explain stuff as they go a little better.

I could definitely see it being a challenge to follow if you haven't played the games or read the books. As a fan of both, it is super familiar and very interesting as it covers lots of ground that hasn't been covered in detail (although it also retreads a lot of familiar ground). I only have 1 episode left and I'm already looking forward to season 2.

Falcon554 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 21, 2019 7:10 am This is a fantastic show. And people it's not Got, it is not trying to be.

It is better than GoT.

Zaxxon wrote: ↑Sat Dec 21, 2019 10:34 pm Can't remember. It was a two-person review basically mocking the show while expaining that they didn't really watch much of it.

That was the EW's review. A terrible review by two stupidly bad reviewers.

Victoria Raverna wrote:

Falcon554 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 21, 2019 7:10 am This is a fantastic show. And people it's not Got, it is not trying to be.

It is better than GoT.

This is extraordinarily unlikely, but I'mma watch it and see!

Victoria Raverna wrote: ↑Sat Dec 21, 2019 11:45 pm

Falcon554 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 21, 2019 7:10 am This is a fantastic show. And people it's not Got, it is not trying to be.

It is better than the final season of GoT.

Fixed.

Tao wrote: ↑Sat Dec 21, 2019 8:04 pm I have not read the books and have only a passing familiarity with the video game. I have watched the first two episodes and while I don't find it terrible, it hasn't knocked my socks off although I will continue to watch more episodes.

Cavill isn't bad but I hope he relaxes a bit more as the episodes go on, the actress playing Tissaia is very good and I like Ciri but the rest aren't grabbing me. I am also finding the story to be rather disjointed and I am pretty confused regarding the deeper stuff at the moment but it's only second episode so hopefully they explain stuff as they go a little better.

I've read 2 of the books (the first book of short stories and the first novel). They are basically combining the two. At least for the first episode. I haven't watched the second yet. But basically, the story with Geralt is one of the short stories. In the first episode all of the bits with Ciri and her grandmother are made up filler. They took some of the backstory mentioned in the novel and fleshed it out. I'm assuming that for the next X number of episodes they will be doing the same thing. Eventually catching up to where the two characters are in the same story. Which is presumably why it feels a bit disjointed. They are setting up the over-arching story, but throwing in the "monster of the week" plots in the meantime. And since the two don't really mesh yet...

What I think is most interesting (and not something I really picked up on from just playing the games) is how they are developing each of the big characters independently from one another - Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer. They're ultimately connected to one another, but seeing how each of them has their own stuff going on (mainly Ciri and Yennefer as we know about Geralt) is a bit different (from a storytelling perspective). In other words, instead of them being defined as Geralt-adjacent characters (arguably like Jaskier), they are completely independent.

Just finished Episode 3, with the story of Foltest and the striga - the first (?) short story I'd ever read and the animation intro they use for the very first Witcher video game. Spoiler-ish for the TV show (though not really).

Regardless, I'm really, really enjoying just how well Cavill is able to portray Geralt's complete intolerance for bullshit.

Where they doing flashbacks or overlapping time in episode 3 or is it as simple as different characters with the same names.
Very confusing.

It is very confusing because I think they're not being honest in how they're presenting the story with respect to the timeline of things, yes. I still think all of this happens prior to what gamers know as the events in the very first game, but the stories of Ciri and Yennefer aren't happening at the same time necessarily. You can read up a bit here, though spoilers abound. I guess the staggered timeline is an intentional choice, but I'm guessing it's going to confuse the hell out of people unfamiliar with the books and/or games.

They were clearly re-watching Westworld while scripting this series and I kind of hate them for it. I finished it (Witcher, not Westworld) this morning and loved it, once I worked out the timelines in my brain. It is so cruel that there is so little of it.

Tao wrote: ↑Sun Dec 22, 2019 2:25 pm Where they doing flashbacks or overlapping time in episode 3 or is it as simple as different characters with the same names.

Spoiler:

The King of Temeria is Foltest and his sister is Adda, the dead Queen of Cintra is Calanthe. During the "Council" meeting with the magic using folk, they mention Calanthe as if she were still alive and there is a scene at the dance where a women named Calanthe scolds here son and daughter calling him Foltest and they look very much like the picture from an earlier scene where Adda should be already dead. Yet the King of Temeria is full grown in the Striga story arc.

Very confusing.

I think Yennefer's early chapter scenes are before Geralt's, maybe decades before Geralt's.

Geralt's scenes in the first chapters are decades before Ciri's.

Also the scenes are not always shown in chronological order.

It kinda makes me miss the old blurred edges thing that used to be the standard for flashbacks.

Henry Cavill cements my ultimate respect (I'm sure he's thrilled) as part of this interview. See if you can guess where.


He's one of us!

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Sun Dec 22, 2019 6:03 pm He's one of us!

That is pretty awesome. I have a new respect for him.

Just binged the whole thing over the weekend and was impressed by it. Haven't read the books but have played the games, so it felt... familiar. And Cavill was perfect as Geralt for me as well. Yes, the time jumps were confusing at first (I see dead people!) and wasn't always sure how much time was going by in the past until someone said something, like Yennifer and her "three decades" comment for one. Or crowsfeet.

Tao wrote: ↑Sat Dec 21, 2019 8:04 pm Cavill isn't bad but I hope he relaxes a bit more as the episodes go on, the actress playing Tissaia is very good and I like Ciri but the rest aren't grabbing me. I am also finding the story to be rather disjointed and I am pretty confused regarding the deeper stuff at the moment but it's only second episode so hopefully they explain stuff as they go a little better.

I would agree with this assessment - as someone who has Witcher 3 but has never played it. For example, until the wedding in the 4th episode, I was very confused:
There were several other plot lines that I thought were confusing also. But I think the world is interesting and drew me in. So I will wait and see what holds for the last 3 episodes for me.

I've got a couple friends who had no exposure to either the games or the books, but were huge GoT fans so they gave this a look over the weekend. Both of their reactions were that it was fun, but extremely confusing. They also both have husbands who are gamers, and said they were very grateful to have someone who had played the games who could answer their questions.

I've got it on tap to binge on my trip in a couple weeks.

Out of curiosity, where should one start with the books? I need something new to read...

Start at the beginning - it's a very good place to start.

The Last Wish

EDIT: In poking around, apparently that wasn't the first Witcher stuff released, but I guess when it became more popular, they put together that book and included the stories in a chronological order that made more sense. It's where I started and (I think) the universally accepted starting point so have at it.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Sun Dec 22, 2019 6:03 pm Henry Cavill cements my ultimate respect (I'm sure he's thrilled) as part of this interview. See if you can guess where.

Spoiler:

Interviewer: Oh, you played the Witcher before? Playstation or Xbox?
Cavill: PC!

He's one of us!

LOL! PC Gamer! Love it!

Very cool, sort of like the little thrill I got when I first learned that Vin Diesel was a hardcore D&D player in to his adult hood. Also one of the reasons I enjoy Wil Wheaton's Tabletop is to see the celebrity guests, although I am convinced some but not all of the guests are actual gamers. Also found this quote recently and thought it was pretty cool.

"Oh, no, no. I would never play guitar with Jimi [laughs]. But I hung out with him. I used to share an apartment in London with Mitch Mitchell, and I got to hang with Jimi a lot. By the way, nobody could ever beat Jimi Hendrix at Risk. No one. Nobody ever. He would drop acid and play Risk, and he was still unbeatable." - Graham Nash on Jimi Hendrix

I think the series improved dramatically starting in episode 6, which was my favorite of this season. I think it helped that the timelines started to converge and the plotting was better and things were more clearly linked. Looking forward to next season.