The Witcher

which i heard was truly terrible and done on a potato budget.

Netflix is looking for something to contend with GoT and all the planned spin-offs, so I figure they'll throw quite a budget at this.

i'm glad they're doing it as a TV series; initial rumors was that it was going to be a movie. it's hard to cover the breadth of this fictional universe in one 2.5 hr block.
 
The Polish series was ok but certainly not big budget 'blockbuster' GoT type stuff. Never read the books myself - there's no beating Tolkien in that field in my view - but did invest some money in CD Project Red before the third game came out. Another game due out this year (supposed to be) is Kingdom Come; Deliverance which is made by a small Czech company and features historical Middle Ages event in Bohemia.
 
did invest some money in CD Project Red before the third game came out.
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talk about a great move. CPDR sure earned big bucks from W3, and IIRC they actually got a grant from the Polish government to further boost their game developing capabilities.

I think you'd enjoy the books-- the world background of that series has some not-that-surprising parallels to the central/eastern european experience vis-a-vis a larger neighbor next door, wrapped in some great story-telling.
 
snapper said:
The Polish series was ok but certainly not big budget 'blockbuster' GoT type stuff. Never read the books myself - there's no beating Tolkien in that field in my view - but did invest some money in CD Project Red before the third game came out. Another game due out this year (supposed to be) is Kingdom Come; Deliverance which is made by a small Czech company and features historical Middle Ages event in Bohemia.
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I would rate Martin over Tolkien in terms of complexity of characters and plot, having said so they are both at a different level altogether. I haven't read the Witcher books, are they very similar to the games in terms of plot? I'm currently reading the first book of the Wheel of Time series but I might switch to Witcher as the original author never finished WoT.
 
astralis said:
talk about a great move. CPDR sure earned big bucks from W3, and IIRC they actually got a grant from the Polish government to further boost their game developing capabilities.
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There was no Polish Government grant for Witcher3 though there is potential funding of $7m available for the new game engine (REDengine or something which sounded suspiciously commie to me) which will go into their next game (Cyberpunk 2077). The funding could be released by 2019. As for me I just got lucky; a friend was playing Witcher 2 and said it was pretty good and knowing it was a Polish company I went and found out about them etc... met them and got on ok so pff. Needless to say I have been trying to persuade them to outsource some tasks to Ukraine. Last I heard they were thinking of investing/collaborating with Warhorse Studios (the Kingdom Come makers) and wanted my thoughts (and money). I thought it was rather a good idea subject to the normal due diligence type investigations but it seems the Czechs got into bed with a German company 'Deep Silver' on the publishing side and Koch Media (who own Deep Silver) in the longer term so too late on that for CDPR.

DarthSiddius said:
I would rate Martin over Tolkien in terms of complexity of characters and plot, having said so they are both at a different level altogether. I haven't read the Witcher books, are they very similar to the games in terms of plot? I'm currently reading the first book of the Wheel of Time series but I might switch to Witcher as the original author never finished WoT.
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I have not read the books but astralis says they are worth reading.

PS They also plan to release a Gwent card game.
 
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darthsiddius,

I haven't read the Witcher books, are they very similar to the games in terms of plot?
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the games were done by people whom read and respected the source material. in terms of the plot, the games were supposed to be essentially fan-fiction sequels to the books, so you'll see many familiar characters, locations, themes, etc. honestly i enjoyed the Witcher series more than I enjoyed GoT, as GoT started to get tangled in far too many character viewpoints and side-stories that fizzled.

the funny thing about the games was that the author, Sapkowski, essentially gave permission for CPDR to develop the games for a lump sum because he had no interest whatsoever in video games and didn't think it was going to be a big thing.

turns out W2 and even more so W3 were absolute blockbuster games so he realized belatedly that he had screwed himself over. so i'm very glad he's onboard with the development of this series because he deserves the riches and will be able to do quality control on the writing, just as Martin did for HBO.
 
DarthSiddius said:
I would rate Martin over Tolkien in terms of complexity of characters and plot, having said so they are both at a different level altogether.
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I think what you mean is 'realism' or 'complexity'; in terms of character and plot I assure you Tolkien has just as much and deeper - read the Silmarillion. Hell Tolkien invented the languages his characters used and derived their ethos from. My point would be that a great book doesn't necessarily need all sorts of complexity, much of in Martin largely irrelevant, and different characters (and many are basically the same in Martin). Yea I have enjoyed Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series so far but he is another author whereas Tolkien was trying to make a point and had religious as well as a historical point to convey. Nor does the prose or poetry honestly compare though much of Tolkiens was pinched; ever heard of this old Anglo Saxon poem called 'The Wanderer'?

Hwær cwom mearg? Hwær cwom mago? [#] Where is the horse gone? Where the rider?
Hwær cwom maþþumgyfa? Where the giver of treasure?
Hwær cwom symbla gesetu? Where are the seats at the feast?
Hwær sindon seledreamas? Where are the revels in the hall?
Eala beorht bune! Alas for the bright cup!
Eala byrnwiga! Alas for the mailed warrior!
Eala þeodnes þrym! Alas for the splendour of the prince!
Hu seo þrag gewat, How that time has passed away,
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Ring a bell?
 
It truly is nice to see such diversity for an on-line game. Even the lusty 'wenches' are white. (lol)

I well understand that the author's Polish homeland doesn't contain a diverse demographic. Just saying...
 
Never read the books but will likely take it in on Netflix.

Currently watching The Last Kingdom on Netflix.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4179452/

It is a televised version of Bernard Cornwell's excellent Saxon Stories.

No fantasy just some good sword fighting and Danes and Saxons going at it.
 
astralis said:
darthsiddius,
the games were done by people whom read and respected the source material.
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Which is self evident with the quality and depth in their games.

in terms of the plot, the games were supposed to be essentially fan-fiction sequels to the books, so you'll see many familiar characters, locations, themes, etc. honestly i enjoyed the Witcher series more than I enjoyed GoT, as GoT started to get tangled in far too many character viewpoints and side-stories that fizzled.
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I agree, ASOIF has suffered due to the story growing sideways instead of forward, especially his last two books. But I do love the world building involved. The thing which I liked best about Martin's work in ASOIF is his writing style. I love the fact that we are inside the character's head and experience the world through their eyes, thoughts and biases when reading the POV chapters. I don't know of any other series that does that.

the funny thing about the games was that the author, Sapkowski, essentially gave permission for CPDR to develop the games for a lump sum because he had no interest whatsoever in video games and didn't think it was going to be a big thing.

turns out W2 and even more so W3 were absolute blockbuster games so he realized belatedly that he had screwed himself over. so i'm very glad he's onboard with the development of this series because he deserves the riches and will be able to do quality control on the writing, just as Martin did for HBO.
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Well to give him credit games have generally been bad at adapting novels. CDPR deserve all the acclaim they have been getting, they really did pull it off with the witcher series.
As for Martin, the show overtaking the books has deprived Martin the control he had initially. The show is following its own trajectory now and I feel it has suffered due to it. DnD are great at adapting the books but their writing has suffered when they have to come up with their own material.

snapper said:
There was no Polish Government grant for Witcher3 though there is potential funding of $7m available for the new game engine (REDengine or something which sounded suspiciously commie to me) which will go into their next game (Cyberpunk 2077). The funding could be released by 2019. As for me I just got lucky; a friend was playing Witcher 2 and said it was pretty good and knowing it was a Polish company I went and found out about them etc... met them and got on ok so pff. Needless to say I have been trying to persuade them to outsource some tasks to Ukraine. Last I heard they were thinking of investing/collaborating with Warhorse Studios (the Kingdom Come makers) and wanted my thoughts (and money). I thought it was rather a good idea subject to the normal due diligence type investigations but it seems the Czechs got into bed with a German company 'Deep Silver' on the publishing side and Koch Media (who own Deep Silver) in the longer term so too late on that for CDPR.



I have not read the books but astralis says they are worth reading.

PS They also plan to release a Gwent card game.
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Added them to my to-read list! Also, I avoided gwent in game like the plague lol.


snapper said:
I think what you mean is 'realism' or 'complexity'; in terms of character and plot I assure you Tolkien has just as much and deeper - read the Silmarillion. Hell Tolkien invented the languages his characters used and derived their ethos from. My point would be that a great book doesn't necessarily need all sorts of complexity, much of in Martin largely irrelevant, and different characters (and many are basically the same in Martin). Yea I have enjoyed Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series so far but he is another author whereas Tolkien was trying to make a point and had religious as well as a historical point to convey. Nor does the prose or poetry honestly compare though much of Tolkiens was pinched; ever heard of this old Anglo Saxon poem called 'The Wanderer'?



Ring a bell?
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I am a Tolkien fan, so no need to convince me of his greatness haha! My personal opinion is that Tolkien was better in envisaging the size and scope of his world and the severity of the depicted events and the direction of his story; while Martin's world is not as fleshed out (the work is still unfinished) but it has so many great and interesting characters and their viewpoints in it and his world is a lot more grey in contrast with the black and white world of Tolkien. In the end they are both great works of fiction which have had a massive impact on literature and, for better or worse, pop culture.
 
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So I assume most of us have seen Series 1 of The Witcher now? Any thoughts? I thought the time line and age differences - compared to the books - were not explained that well (So Yennefer is actually older than Geralt and Siri of course is years later). Thoughts?
 
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